Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/174

irritated against her rich relations, determined to go and pay them a visit: not now to return them thanks, but to make them ashamed of their mean conduct. So the horses’ heads were turned towards the village where the niggards lived; and in the evening they reached the very farm from which, three years before, Veit had been so inhospitably and cruelly driven. This time the thriving farmer marched boldly up and knocked with a flourish. A perfect stranger opened the door; and, in answer to Veit’s inquiries, informed him that the rich relations had all gone to the dogs: one was dead, leaving no money; another was still alive in the place, subsisting on alms; a third had found it convenient to decamp, without beat of drum, and was wandering about without a home, and so on. Veit, with his family, spent the night in the house of the new proprietor, a very hospitable man, who related to him at large the various misfortunes that had befallen the niggards. Next day he returned home; his affairs continued to prosper, and he and his wife lived together in health, happiness, and opulence, to a very advanced period of life.