Then the parson bethought him of the evil case he was in.
"The man seems to me mortally strong, and we have great need of him," said he; "nor is it any great sin, methinks, to help a servant of God's over the sea. But I should like to know what he wants in return."
The billows burst, and the blast howled around him.
"Only some two or three shovels of earth on a rotten sea-boot and a mouldy skin-jacket," said Isaac.
"If you're able to gad about again here below, I suppose there's nothing against your being able to enter into bliss again, for all that I know," bawled the parson of Brönö; "and you shall have your shovelfuls of earth into the bargain."
Just as he said this, the water within the skerries all at once became quite smooth, and the parson's boat drove high and dry upon the sandbank, so that the mast cracked.
[1] I.e., at nothing--a house having usually only four walls.
[2] See "The Fisherman and the Draug."
[3] See "The Fisherman and the Draug."