Advocate Rein laid the paper on the table, and said, "The business is getting serious; one may well feel anxious and disturbed."
"Good heavens, what is the matter now?" "Has anything serious happened?"
"Serious? I should think so! Just listen! 'North pole, 27th February. An extremely dangerous and serious outbreak has occurred among the Esquimaux; they obstinately refuse to turn the earth's axis any longer, and they pretend there is a lack of train-oil, for greasing, since the whale-fisheries have been so bad, during the last year. The consequences of this disturbance, for the whole world, are not to be reckoned.'"
"Thunder and lightning! what is that? Will the whole concern stand still?"
"Eh, the government must do something about it!"
"Eh, neighbor, the nobility will not suffer that."
"I don't believe a word of it," said Hanne Bank.
"You don't believe it? Well, as a shoemaker, you should know something about it. Hasn't train-oil gone up since last year?"
"Well, children," said Wimmersdorf, the tailor, "so much I say, no good can come of it."
"Well," cried another, "it is all one to me! If the skies fall, the sparrows will drop dead. But so much I say, we have to work, and shall those lazy dogs at the north pole sit with their hands in their laps? Grammelin, another glass of beer!"