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The Lad and the Devil.
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hammer he had, laid the nut on the anvil, and gave it a blow, but it
didn't break. So he took a somewhat bigger hammer, but that
wasn't heavy enough either ; then he took a still bi^er one, but
no, — the nut would not break. This made the smith angry, and he
seized the big sledge-hammer. "I shall soon make bits of you,"
he said, and he gave the nut such a blow that it went into a thousand
pieces, and sent half the roof of the smithy flying in the air. Such
a crash ! just as if the hut were tumbling together.
" I think the devil was in the nut," said the smith.
" So he was," said the lad.
