‘Where was that?’ asked Berbel, as he paused.
‘Well, if you want to know, I will tell you. There is a place in the forest, called Waldeck, where there is a ruined castle, and before the gate there are three trees and a stump of an old tree farther on—it is all thick and full of brushwood and pines and birches, so that my three trees look very much like the others, but when you have found them, you must take a straight line from the right hand one to the stump—you will find it if you look, and then go on past the stump about a hundred ells, always straight, and then you will come to a flat stone; and the stone is loose so that it turns round easily, if you are strong enough to move it, and underneath it there is a deep hole. I put my gold piece at the bottom of this hole and set a heavy stone upon it, and then I got out and drew the big stone into its place, and went away. I did not think that any one would be likely to look for a twenty mark-piece just in that spot.’
‘Improbable,’ assented Berbel, her massive mouth twitching with amusement.
‘Very. And I said to myself, Wastei, you’re a brave fellow, and you shall starve to death rather than use the gold which is the price of bad news; but if the son of the old wolf gets well, and marries Frau Berbel’s young lady, and if the good God sends them a boy, then, Wastei, you shall go and get the gold piece and spend it at the christening. You see Herr Rex had given me a drink with the money, just as you did, so that there was a chance of its turning out well after all, and I knew that—because if there had been no chance, why then, money is money, after all.’
‘And so now you have bought a coat with it?’
‘And what a coat! The Jew had had it in his shop for six months, but nobody could buy it because it was so dear.’
‘The Jew?’ inquired Berbel, looking sharply at Wastei.
‘Yes—and do you know what I think, Frau Berbel?’ Wastei lowered his voice to a whisper.
‘What?’
‘I believe it is the coat the old wolf died in, and that is the reason it brings me luck.’