“Cael, my pulse,” said the Carl, “we had better build a house or a hut to
pass the night in.”
“I’Il build nothing,” Cael replied, looking on the Carl with great
disfavour.
“No!”
“I won’t build house or hut for the sake of passing one night here, for I
hope never to see this place again.”
“I’Il build a house myself,” said the Carl, “and the man who does not help
in the building can stay outside of the house.”
The Carl stumped to a near-by wood, and he never rested until he had
felled and tied together twenty-four couples of big timber. He thrust
these under one arm and under the other he tucked a bundle of rushes for
his bed, and with that one load he rushed up a house, well thatched and
snug, and with the timber that remained over he made a bonfire on the
floor of the house.
His companion sat at a distance regarding the work with rage and aversion.
“Now Cael, my darling,” said the Carl, “if you are a man help me to look
for something to eat, for there is game here.”
“Help yourself,” roared Cael, “for all that I want is not to be near you.”
“The tooth that does not help gets no helping,” the other replied.
In a short time the Carl returned with a wild boar which he had run down.
He cooked the beast over his bonfire and ate one half of it, leaving the
other half for his breakfast. Then he lay down on the rushes, and in two
turns he fell asleep.
But Cael lay out on the side of the hill, and if he went to sleep that
night he slept fasting. It was he, however, who awakened the Carl in the
morning.
“Get up, beggarman, if you are going to run against me.”
The Carl rubbed his eyes.
“I never get up until I have had my fill of sleep, and there is another
hour of it due to me. But if you are in a hurry, my delight, you can start
running now with a blessing. I will trot on your track when I waken up.”
Cael began to race then, and he was glad of the start, for his antagonist
made so little account of him that he did not know what to expect when the
Carl would begin to run.
“Yet,” said Cael to himself, “with an hour’s start the beggarman will have
to move his bones if he wants to catch on me,” and he settled down to a
good, pelting race.
