who thereupon revenged himself in the following manner, and
so wiped out the score.

The messenger, in one of his journeys over the mountains, entered an
hotel to refresh himself, and placed his spear as usual behind the
door. No sooner had he done so than Rubezahl carried off the spear,
transformed himself into a similar one, and took its place.

When the messenger, after taking his rest, set forth again with the
spear, and had got some little way on his journey, it began slipping
about every now and then in such a manner that the messenger began
pitching forward into the most intolerable mire, and got himself sadly
bespattered. It did this so often that at last he could not tell for
the soul of him what had come to the spear, or why he kept slipping
forward with it instead of seizing fast hold of the ground.

He looked at it longways and sideways, from above, from underneath,
but in spite of all his attempts, no change could he discover.

After this inspection he went forward a little way, when suddenly he
was once more plunged into the morass, and commenced crying--

"Woe is me! woe is me!" at his spear, which led him into such scrapes,
and did nothing to release him from them. At length he got himself
once more to rights, and then he turned the spear the wrong way
upwards. No sooner had he done so than he was driven backwards instead
of forwards, and so got into a worse plight than ever.

After this he laid the spear across his shoulder like a pikeman, since
it was no use to trail it upon the earth, and in this fashion he
started on. But Rubezahl continued his tricks by pressing on the
messenger as though he had got a yoke on his back. He changed the
spear from one shoulder to the other, until at last, from very
weariness, he threw away the bewitched weapon, imagining that the Evil
One must possess it, and went his way without it.

He had not proceeded above a quarter of a mile, when, looking
carelessly about him, he was astounded to find his spear by his side.
He was sadly frightened, and little knew what to make of it. At last
he boldly ventured to lay hands upon it. He did so, and lifted it up,
but he could not conceive how he should carry it. He had no desire to
trail it any more on the ground, and the thought of carrying it on his
shoulder made him shudder. He decided, however, to give it another
trial, carrying it in his hand. Fresh troubles now arose. The spear
weighed so heavy that he could not stir