This time he took with him a rope and put it under his arms and
tied himself up to a tree, which hung over the road that the man
would have to take. So the man came with his ox, and when he
saw the body hanging there he felt a little queer.

`What a hard lot yours must have been to make you hang
yourself!' said he. `Ah, well! you may hang there for me; I can't
breathe life into you again.'

So on he went with his ox. Then the youth sprang down from
the tree, ran by a short cut and got before him, and once more hung
himself up on a tree in the road before the man.

`How I should like to know if you really were so sick at heart
that you hanged yourself there, or if it is only a hobgoblin that's
before me!' said the man. `Ah, well! you may hang there for me,
whether you are a hobgoblin or not,' and on he went with his ox.

Once more the youth did just as he had done twice already;
jumped down from the tree, ran by a short cut through the wood,
and again hanged himself in the very middle of the road before him.

But when the man once more saw this he said to himself,
`What a bad business this is! Can they all have been so heavy.
hearted that they have all three hanged themselves? No, I can't
believe that it is anything but witchcraft! But I will know the
truth,' he said; `if the two others are still hanging there it is true
but if they are not it's nothing else but witchcraft.'

So he tied up his ox and ran back to see if they really were