Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/165

father, they cried out, with their faint voices; “Bread, father! a morsel of bread! How long thou hast kept us waiting!” The woe-worn mother sat weeping in a corner, scarcely daring to look at her husband, so much did her oppressed spirit dread his having only bad news to communicate; but he, assuring her with a cordial smile and a loving kiss, bade her mend the fire; and then lit up the hollow eyes of all by drawing from his wallet the oatmeal, millet, and other eatables he had bought at Reichenberg on his way home. In the shortest possible time there was got ready a bowl of porridge, so thick that the spoon stood upright in it; and then the poor hungry folks set to work, and ate away so heartily and joyously, ’twould have done you good to have seen them. The next thing to be done was to satisfy his wife’s earnest desire to know how he had sped. Not deeming it advisable for the present to let her know the real state of the case, he said: “Thy relations are uncommonly nice people; they by no means insulted me for my poverty, nor affected not to know me, nor turned me into the street by the shoulders. Oh! dear, no; they received me most hospitably; opened heart and hand to me, and advanced me a hundred dollars down on the nail. Of course they did!” The poor woman felt relieved from a sense of mortification which had long weighed