Page:Christmas Fireside Stories.djvu/122

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
There was a problem when proofreading this page.
110
The Seven Fathers in the House.

was a pair of big eyes. "Good evening, father; can I get lodgings here to-night ? " said the traveller. "I am not the father in the house; but speak to my father, who lies in the cradle yonder," said the man with the big eyes. Yes, the traveller went to the cradle; there was a very old man lying, so shrivelled up, that he was not larger than a baby, and one could not have told that there was life in him if it had not been for a sound in his throat now and then. "Good evening, father ; can I get lodgings here to-night?" said the man. It took some time before he got an answer, and still longer before he had finished it; he said, like the others, that he An image should appear at this position in the text. was not the father in the house; "But speak to myfather; he is hanging up in the horn against the wall there." The traveller stared round the walls, and at last he caught sight of the horn; but when he looked for him who hung in it, there was scarcely anything to be seen but a lump of white ashes, which had the appearance of a man's face. Then he was so frightened, that he cried aloud: "Good evening, father; will you give me lodgings here to-night?" There was a sound like a little tom tit's chirping, but it was no more than he was just able to understand that it meant, "Yes, my child." And now a table came in which was covered with the costliest dishes, with ale and brandy; and when he had eaten and drunk, in came a good bed with reindeer skins, and the traveller was very glad indeed that he at last had found the right father in the house.