Ib and Little Christine

"And in this one is there a pretty little neckerchief, like the one Christine is wearing around her neck?" asked Ib.

"There are ten neckerchiefs in it," replied the woman. "There are beautiful dresses, too, and stockings, and a hat."

"Then I want that one, too," said Christine.

So little Ib gave her the second nut also. The third was a little black one.

"You can keep that one," said Christine. "And it's a very pretty one, too."

"What's in it?" asked Ib.

"The best of all things for you," said the old gypsy.

So Ib held onto that nut very tightly. The woman promised to start them on the right way to their homes; and then they went, but certainly in an entirely different direction than they should go. Yet we have no reason to suspect the gypsy woman of wanting to steal the children.

In a wild part of the wood they met Chraen, the game warden; he knew Ib, and with his help Ib and little Christine finally arrived home, where everybody had been very anxious about them. They were forgiven, although they both really had earned a good beating - first, for letting the pig fall into the water, and, second, for running away.

Christine went home with her father on the heath, and Ib remained in the little farmhouse. The first thing he did that evening was take from his pocket the black nut in which "the best of all things" was supposed to be enclosed. He placed it carefully between the door and the doorpost, then shut the door sharply. The nut cracked all right, but there was no kernel in it. It was what we call worm-eaten, looking as if it were filled with snuff or rich, black earth.

"That's what I thought," opined Ib. "How could there be room for the best of all things in this little nut? And Christine won't get any more out of her two nuts either, no fine clothes or golden carriage."

So winter came on, and the new year began.

Several years passed, and Ib was to be confirmed. To prepare for it he studied with the clergyman far off in the next village. It was at this time that the boatman came one day to visit Ib's parents and told them that little Christine was going to work as a servant girl and that she had been really fortunate in getting an unusually good position with very worthy people, for, just imagine, she was going to the rich innkeeper's at Herning, west of there.