Then she bolted the upper half of the door, but she lifted the lower part from its hinges, and took it with her on her back, thinking that if she had the door in safety the house would be safe. She took plenty of time on her way back, for she thought: ‘Fred will have the more time to rest.’
When she reached him again, she said:‘Here you have the house door, Fred, so you can take care of the house yourself.’
‘Good heavens,’ he said, ‘ what a clever wife I have. She bolts the upper part of the door, and lifts the lower part off its hinges, so that anything may run in and out. It’s too late to go back to the house now; but as you have brought the door so far, you may just carry it further.’
‘I will carry the door, Fred,’ she said. ‘But the apples and the jug of vinegar are too heavy; I will hang them on the door, and it may carry them.’
They now went into the wood to look for the rogues, but they did not find them. As it was dark, they climbed up a tree to spend the night there.
They had hardly settled themselves, before the Pedlars came up. They were the sort of people who take away things which should not be taken, and who find things before they are lost.
They lay down just under the tree in which Fred and Kate were. They lighted a fire, and began to divide their booty.
Fred got down at the other side of the tree, and picked up a lot of stones with which he meant to kill the thieves. The stones did not hit them, however, and the rogues said: ‘It will soon be day, the wind is blowing down the pine cones.’
Kate still had the door on her back, and she thought it was the dried apples which made it so heavy, so she said: ‘Fred, I must throw down the apples.’
“No, Kate, not now,’ he answered; ‘they would betray us.’
‘But, Fred, I must, they are so heavy.’
‘Well, let them go then, in the name of fortune!’ he cried, and down rolled the apples.
