Kiartan then entered the hall with his followers, and the priest, with
holy water, and celebration of a solemn mass, completed the conquest
over the goblins, which had been commenced by the power and authority of
the Icelandic law.




THE LITTLE GLASS SHOE.


A peasant, named John Wilde, who lived in Rodenkirchen, found, one time,
a little glass shoe on one of the hills, where the little people used to
dance. He clapped it instantly in his pocket, and ran away with it,
keeping his hand as close on his pocket as if he had a dove in it, for
he knew he had found a treasure which the underground people must redeem
at any price.

Others say that John Wilde lay in ambush one night for the underground
people, and snatched an opportunity to pull off one of their shoes by
stretching himself there with a brandy bottle beside him, and acting
like one that was dead drunk, for he was a very cunning man, not over
scrupulous in his morals, and had taken in many a one by his craftiness,
and, on this account, his name was in no good repute among his
neighbours, who, to say the truth, were willing to have as little to do
with him as possible. Many hold, too, that he was acquainted with
forbidden acts, and used to carry on an intercourse with the fiends and
old women that raised storms, and such like.

However, be this as it may, when John had got the shoe he lost no time