broad, and set this in the gap, then he went on and joined the
others. These laughed at him heartily, for they had laboured as
hard as they could since daybreak, and had helped each other to
fell trees and put them on the carts, so that all of these were
now loaded except one.

Hans got hold of a woodman's axe and proceeded to fell a tree,
but he destroyed the edge and broke the shaft at the first blow.
He therefore laid down the axe, put his arms round the tree, and
pulled it up by the roots. This he threw upon his cart, and then
another and another, and thus he went on while all the others
forgot their work, and stood with open mouths, gazing at this
strange woodcraft. All at once they began to hurry; the last
cart was loaded, and they whipped up their horses, so as to be
the first to arrive home.

When Hans had finished his work, he again put his old hacks into
the cart, but they could not move it from the spot. He was
annoyed at this, and took them out again, twisted a rope round
the cart, and all the trees, lifted the whole affair on his back,
and set off home, leading the horses behind him by the rein.
When he reached the gate, he found the whole row of carts
standing there, unable to get any further for the stone which lay
in the gap.

'What!' said Hans, 'can twelve men not move that stone?' With
that he lifted it and threw it out of hte way, and went on with
his burden on his back, and the horses behind him, and arrived at
the farm long before any of the others. The squire was walking
about there, looking and looking, for he was very curious to know