'Is it anything about that?' she asked.
'Yes,' he answered.
'Is it anything about the peace of Christmas?'
'Yes.'
'You wished to do an evil deed this morning?'
'Yes.'
'And God has punished us?'
'God has punished us.'
So at last she was told how it had happened. They had with some trouble found the lair of the bear, and when they had got near enough to see the heap of fagots, they stopped in order to load their guns. But before they were ready the bear rushed out of its lair straight against them. It went neither to the right nor to the left, but straight for old Ingmar Ingmarson, and struck him a blow on the top of the head that felled him to the ground as if he had been struck by lightning. It did not attack any of the others, but rushed past them into the forest.