Northern mythology

NETHERLANDISH TRADITIONS. 233
emptied the most capacious beer jug at one draughty and
devoured the largest ham clean to the bone^ so that all
the guests were seized with a cold shuddering ; for they
could not imagine that any man in the world could eat
and drink such a quantity.
When the table was cleared the stranger said to the
bridegroom, who sat still as pale as a corpse :
'' Now this
I call a gay wedding, at which there is not a solitary
fiddle.^'
AMiereupon one of the company told him, that the
musician was prevented from coming by the bad weather.
" Oh, if that ^s all," replied the new-comer, " I ^11 soon set
the matter right : I have my violin standing just by the
door." Having said this, he stept out and instantly returned
with his instrument, seated himself in a chair
placed on the table, and began playing the merriest tunes
imaginable.
All now arranged themselves for
dancing with the exception
of the bridegroom, who stood in
a corner buried
in thought. No sooner, however, did the stranger get a
glimpse of him than, springing from the table, he hastened
towards him, saying "
: How now, Hans ? this is the
happiest day of your life, and you stand there as if you
could not count three." But the bridegroom continued
as it were in a dream. The stranger then laid his hand
familiarly on his shoulder, and at the same instant the
stings of hell seemed to penetrate him ; he rushed forward
in the most frantic joy, danced, leapt, cried, raved
and laughed so horribly that he might have been pronounced
a maniac rather than a rational being, who was
looking forward to
the realization, within a short time, of
his long-cherished wishes. The other guests were seized
with a similar drunken frenzy, and persisted in their wild
mirth until the clock announced the hour of midnight. The
stranger then putting the violin into his pocket, descended