upon which nobody stands safely. Less than six years afterwards the baron
passed out of his castle-gate a poor beggar, while the baronial seat had been
bought by a rich tradesman. He was the very pedlar they had made fun of
and poured beer into a stocking for him to drink; but honesty and industry
bring one forward, and now the pedlar was the possessor of the baronial
estate. From that time forward no card-playing was permitted there.
“That’s a bad pastime,” he said; “when the devil saw the Bible for the
first time he wanted to produce a caricature in opposition to it, and invented
card-playing.”
The new proprietor of the estate took a wife, and whom did he take? -The
little goose-girl, who had always remained good and kind, and who looked
as beautiful in her new clothes as if she had been a lady of high birth. And
how did all this come about? That would be too long a tale to tell in our
busy time, but it really happened, and the most important events have yet to
be told.
It was pleasant and cheerful to live in the old place now: the mother
superintended the household, and the father looked after things out-of-
doors, and they were indeed very prosperous.
Where honesty leads the way, prosperity is sure to follow. The old
mansion was repaired and painted, the ditches were cleaned and fruit-trees
planted; all was homely and pleasant, and the floors were as white and
shining as a pasteboard. In the long winter evenings the mistress and her
maids sat at the spinning-wheel in the large hall; every Sunday the
counsellor-this title the pedlar had obtained, although only in his old days-
read aloud a portion from the Bible. The children (for they had children) all
received the best education, but they were not all equally clever, as is the
case in all families.
In the meantime the willow tree near the drawbridge had grown up into a
splendid tree, and stood there, free, and was never clipped. “It is our
genealogical tree,” said the old people to their children, “and therefore it
must be honoured.”
