“‘Herr Bjergman,’ said the Huusbonde, ‘you do not seem to be in a very good case, neither am I, but I think we may make something of this hill of yours between us—I say between us, for, you know, the top of the soil belongs to me, just as the under soil belongs to you.’
“‘Aye, aye!’ said the Bjergman, ‘I should like that very well. What do you propose?’
“‘Why, I propose to dig it up and sow it, and as we have both of us a right to the ground, I think in common fairness we ought both of us to labour at it, and then we will take the produce year and year about. The first year I will have all that is above ground and you shall have all below; and the next year we will change over, and then you shall have all that is above and I will have all that is below.”
“‘Well,’ said the Troll, greatly pleased, ‘that is fair; I like dealing with an honest man. When shall we begin?’
“‘Why, next spring, I think; suppose we say after Walpurgis night,[20] we cannot get at the ground much before.’
“‘With all my heart,’ said the Bjergman—and so they did. They worked very well together, but the Bjergman did twice as much work as his friend; they always do when they are pleased; and they sowed oats and rye and bear; and when harvest came the Huusbonde took that which was above the ground, the grain and the straw which came to his share, while the Bjergman was very well contented with his share of roots.
“‘When next Walpurgis night came round they dug up the ground again; and this time the Bjergman was to have all that was above ground, so they manured it well, and sowed turnips and carrots; and by and by, when the harvest came, the Huusbonde had a fine heap of roots, and the Bjergman was delighted with his share of greens. There never came any harm of this that I know, each was pleased with his bargain, and the Huusbonde came to be the richest man in the Tellemark. You know the family, Torkel, old Nils of Bygland, it was his grandfather Lars, to whom it happened.”
“Well,” said Torkel, “it is quite true, then, I can testify, I only wish I had a tenth part so many specie-dalers in the Trondhjem Bank as old Nils has.”
“And our Norfolk squires,” said the Captain, “fancy it was their sagacity that discovered the four-course system of agriculture! The Trolls were before them, it seems.”
“The system seems to answer quite as well in Norway as ever it did in England,” said the Parson, “If all that Tom tells us about Nils of Bygland be true.”