"Am I not to go with thee, Vaterchen?"
"Nay, I fear not, Sonnlein; 'tis a long way over rough roads and through tangled paths, through great, lonely forests, where there are wild beasts, and then the wild sea to make thee sick. We know not what hardships we may have to endure."
"But I can walk, Vaterchen; I am not afraid of the lonely woods, not if I am with thee."
"But how about the sea?"
"Thou canst give me physic," he replied so innocently I could not refrain from laughing, whereat he pouted and grumbled, "I'm not afraid of the sea, and on land I can walk as well as 'Old Air-smeller.'"
"What!" I cried in amazement. "Whom dost mean by such irreverent name?" I demanded.
"Brother Jephune," he confessed; "he sticketh his nose into the air when he walketh about, so he falleth over everything."
"Is't needful you call him such name?"
"So the neighbors call him."
"Must do what foolish ones do?"