Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/237

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Taper Tom
215

Well! he had hardly got home before his second brother wanted to set off. He was a schoolmaster, and a wonderful figure of fun besides; he was lopsided, for he had one leg shorter than the other, and one moment he was as little as a boy, and in another, when he stood on his long leg, he was as tall and long as a Troll. Besides this, he was a powerful preacher.

So when he came to the king's grange, and said he wished to make the princess laugh, the king thought it might not be so unlikely after all. "But Heaven help you," he said, "if you don't make her laugh. We are for cutting the stripes broader and broader for every one that tries."

Then the schoolmaster strode off to the courtyard, and put himself before the princess's window, and read