The sexton said to himself, "That is not a bad thought"; but he remained
quiet as if he were a stone. Then the boy called out for the third time,
but it produced no effect; so, making a spring, he threw the ghost down
the stairs, so that it rolled ten steps, and then lay motionless in a
corner. Thereupon he rang the bell, and then going home, he went to bed
without saying a word, and fell fast asleep. The sexton's wife waited
some time for her husband, but he did not come; so at last she became
anxious, woke the boy, and asked him if he knew where her husband was,
who had gone before him to the belfry.

"No," answered the boy; "but there was someone standing on the steps who
would not give any answer, nor go away, so I took him for a thief and
threw him downstairs. Go now and see where he is; perhaps it may be he,
but I should be sorry for it." The wife ran off and found her husband
lying in a corner, groaning, with one of his ribs broken.

She took him up and ran with loud outcries to the boy's father, and said
to him, "Your son has brought a great misfortune on us; he has thrown my
husband down and broken his bones. Take the good-for-nothing fellow from
our house."

The terrified father came in haste and scolded the boy. "What do these
wicked tricks mean? They will only bring misfortune upon you."

"Father," answered the lad, "hear me! I am quite innocent. He stood
there at midnight like one who had done some evil; I did not know who it
was, and cried three times, 'Speak, or be off!'"

"Ah!" said the father, "everything goes badly with you. Get out of my