"Is't true, father, that the prize belonged to you?"
"Yes, indeed; and it belongs to me still."
"So! Now I understand all about it," said the cooper, taking his departure.
In the house of Sevenpiper the newcomers found everything in confusion; the oldest daughter was weeping, and the other children were running over one another.
They became quieted at last, and Sevenpiper said that he was not going to allow himself to be driven out of his wits; anyhow he would no longer be a day-laborer in the vineyard; he would just do nothing for a year, and then he would see what he would take hold of. The children screamed and shouted in all sorts of ways, and Sevenpiper tried to make them sing, but not one of them was willing; all that was past and gone forever.
Eric had induced Claus to wait outside the house; he now told them what the field-guard wanted.
As soon as he made known this desire, Sevenpiper raised the window and cried out to his former comrade standing in the road:—
"If you don't clear out from here, and if you claim a single red cent from me, I'll break every bone in your carcass. Now you know what to expect! Off with you!"
No appeal was of any use; Sevenpiper insisted upon it, that he would not give Claus as much as he could put into his eye.
Roland and Eric went away exceedingly cast down. They came to the house of Claus, who was asleep on the bench. His wife lamented that he had come home very drunk, and that the cooper was half-crazed.