EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE. 429

was the hand of a pedlar, who had seen from a short distance
what had happened, and who now hurried up to give aid.

“ Everything in its right place!” he said,mimicking the gracious
baron ; and he drew the little maiden up to the firm ground. He
would have restored the broken branch to the place from which
it had been torn, but “ everything in its place” cannot always be
managed, and therefore he stuck the piece in the ground. “Grow
and prosper till you can furnish a good flute for them up yonder,”
he said; for he would have liked to play the “rogue’s march”
for my lord the baron and my lord’s whole family. And then he
betook himself to the castle, but not into the ancestral hall, he
was too humble for that! He went to the servants’ quarters,
and the men and maids turned over his stock of goods, and
bargained with him; and from above, where the guests were at
table, came a sound of roaring and screaming that was intended
for song, and indeed they did their best. Loud laughter, mingled
with the barking and howling of dogs, sounded through the
windows, for there was feasting and carousing up yonder. Wine
and strong old ale foamed in the jugs and glasses, and the dogs
sat with their masters and dined with them. They had.the pedlar
summoned upstairs, but only to make fun of him. The wine had
mounted into their heads, and the sense had flown out. They
poured wine into a stocking, that the pedlar might drink with
them, but that he must drink quickly; that was considered a rare
jest, and was a cause of fresh laughter. And then whole farms,
with oxen and peasants too, were staked ona card, and lost and
won.

“Everything in its right place!” said the pedlar, when he had
at last made his escape out of what he called “the Sodom and
Gomorrah up yonder.” “The open high road is my right place,”
he said; “I did not feel at all happy there.”

And the little maiden who sat keeping the geese nodded at
him ina friendly way, as he strode along beside the hedges.

And days and weeks went by; and it became manifest that
the willow branch which the pedlar had stuck into the ground
by the castle moat remained fresh and green, and even brought
forth new twigs. The little goose-girl saw that the branch must
have taken root, and rejoiced greatly at the circumstance; for
this tree, she said, was now her tree.

The tree certainly came forward well; but everything else be-
longing to the castle went very rapidly back, what with feasting
and gambling—for these two are like wheels, upon which no man
can stand securely.

Six years had not passed away before the noble lord passed out
of the castle gate, a beggared man, and the mansion was bought
by a rich dealer; and this purchaser was the very man who had
once been made a jest of there, for whom wine had been poured
into a stocking ; but honesty and industry are good winds to speed