There you must waken the townspeople and tell
them that I'm alone out here on the ice, surrounded by wolves, and ask
them to come and help me.'
"The man waited until the wolves were almost upon the sledge. Then he
rolled out the big brewer's vat, jumped down, and crawled in under it.
"It was a huge vat, large enough to hold a whole Christmas brew. The
wolves pounced upon it and bit at the hoops, but the vat was too heavy
for them to move. They could not get at the man inside.
"He knew that he was safe and laughed at the wolves. After a bit he was
serious again.
"'For the future, when I get into a tight place, I shall remember this
vat, and I shall bear in mind that I need never wrong either myself or
others, for there is always a third way out of a difficulty if only one
can hit upon it.'"
With this Bataki closed his narrative.
The boy noticed that the raven never spoke unless there was some special
meaning back of his words, and the longer he listened to him, the more
thoughtful he became.
"I wonder why you told me that story?" remarked the boy.
"I just happened to think of it as I stood here, gazing up at
Sonfjaellet," replied the raven.
Now they had travelled farther down Lake Ljusna and in an hour or so
they came to Kolsaett, close to the border of Haelsingland. Here the raven
alighted near a little hut that had no windows--only a shutter.
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