“That is a good price at all events,” said Great Claus. So he went home,
took a hatchet, and killed his old grandmother with one blow. Then he
placed her on a cart, and drove into the town to the apothecary, and asked
him if he would buy a dead body.
“Whose is it, and where did you get it?” asked the apothecary.
“It is my grandmother,” he replied; “I killed her with a blow, that I might
get a bushel of money for her.”
“Heaven preserve us!” cried the apothecary, “you are out of your mind.
Don’t say such things, or you will lose your head.” And then he talked to
him seriously about the wicked deed he had done, and told him that such a
wicked man would surely be punished. Great Claus got so frightened that
he rushed out of the surgery, jumped into the cart, whipped up his horses,
and drove home quickly. The apothecary and all the people thought him
mad, and let him drive where he liked.
“You shall pay for this,” said Great Claus, as soon as he got into the
highroad, “that you shall, Little Claus.” So as soon as he reached home he
took the largest sack he could find and went over to Little Claus. “You have
played me another trick,” said he. “First, I killed all my horses, and then my
old grandmother, and it is all your fault; but you shall not make a fool of me
any more.” So he laid hold of Little Claus round the body, and pushed him
into the sack, which he took on his shoulders, saying, “Now I’m going to
drown you in the river.
He had a long way to go before he reached the river, and Little Claus was
not a very light weight to carry. The road led by the church, and as they
passed he could hear the organ playing and the people singing beautifully.
Great Claus put down the sack close to the church-door, and thought he
might as well go in and hear a psalm before he went any farther. Little
Claus could not possibly get out of the sack, and all the people were in
church; so in he went.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” sighed Little Claus in the sack, as he turned and
twisted about; but he found he could not loosen the string with which it was
