Northern mythology

242 NETHERLANDISH TRADITIONS.
'^
eyes lias gone up stairs, oh the dog "
! ^^liat means
all this ? '^ said the mother, opening the door, when a large
dog darted down the stairs, passed by her and sprang out
of
^'
the house. Lord preserve us, the devil ''
! cried the
woman
*^
; but the girl exclaimed with delight : He has
" All crossed themselves,
brought me my chain back !
and went upstairs, and searched, but found nothing \
every chest, every closet, even the beds were rummaged,
but no chain appeared. At length said the woman :
'^
Stop : in the garret there are the sacks of apples, which
we had carried up yesterday from the garden ; it may be
in one of them.^^
" You are certainly very silly," said the
daughter laughing; but the mother replied: ^^Who can
know ? Nothing is lost by seeking." And the woman
was right ; for at the bottom of one of the sacks the chain
was found folded up in paper.
THE LANDMARK REMOVED.
Near the village of Vierzel there
dwelt in former times
a peasant, who was so impelled by the desire of increasing
his land that he removed the boundary-posts that separated
his fields from those of his neighbour, and thereby
stole a considerable piece of land. The neighbour was a
heartily good man, who suspected no one of evil, and
therefore never w^as sensible of the other^s dishonesty.
Thus the peasant enjoyed the fruits of his robbery as long
as he lived. But now came his hour of death, and so unexpectedly
that he had no opportunity to
confess his sins.
After his decease, the peasants of the neighbourhood saw
him every night, between the hours of twelve and one,
running through the field, bearing a heavy stake on his
back, and crying incessantly "
: Where shall I set it ?
Where shall I leave " it ?
He had long been running about in this manner, when
it chanced that a drunken peasant, who was passing