half-way thither, when all at once the same little man stood in
front of him and said, 'Good evening, Christian, where are you
going?' 'I've leave to go where I please,' said the smith, but
at the same time he noticed that he could not move a foot. 'No,
you have undertaken to keep guard to-night as well,' said the
little man, 'and you must attend to that.' He then took hold of
him, and however unwilling he was, Christian had to go with him
right back to the same little door that he had crept out at.
When they got there, the little man said to him, 'Go in front of
the altar now, and take in your hand the book that is lying
there. There you shall stay till you hear the lid of the chest
slam down over the dead. In that way you will come to no harm.'

With that the little man shoved him in at the door, and locked
it. Christian then immediately went in front of the altar, and
took the book in his hand, and stood thus until the clock struck
twelve, and the appearance sprang out of the chest. 'Sentry,
where are you? Sentry, where are you?' it shrieked, and then
rushed to the pulpit, and right up into it. But there was no one
there that night. Then it howled and shrieked again,

My father has set no sentry in,
War and Pest this night begin.

At the same moment, it noticed the smith standing in front of the
altar, and came rushing towards him. 'Are you there?' it
screamed; 'now I'll catch you.' But it could not come up over
the step in front of the altar, and there it continued to howl,
and scream, and threaten, until the clock struck one, when it had
to go into the chest again, and Christian heard the lid slam