‘Who is your Father?’
‘That I must not say.’
‘What are you always mumbling in your beard?’
‘Ah,’ answered the Youth, ‘I want to learn to shudder, but no one can teach me.’
‘Stop your silly chatter,’ said the Carter. ‘Just you come with me, and I’ll see that you have what you want.’
The Youth went with the Carter, and in the evening they reached an inn, where they meant to pass the night. He said quite loud, as they entered: ‘Oh, if only I could learn to shudder, if only I could learn to shudder.’
The Landlord, who heard him, laughed, and said: ‘If that’s what you want, there should be plenty of opportunity for you here.’
‘I will have nothing to say to it,’ said the Landlady. ‘So many a prying fellow has already paid the penalty with his life. It would be a sin and a shame if those bright eyes should not see the light of day again.’
But the Youth said: ‘I will learn it somehow, however hard it may be. I have been driven out for not knowing it.’
He gave the Landlord no peace till he told him that there was an enchanted castle a little way off, where any one could be made to shudder, if he would pass three nights in it.