“How is that?”
“Oh, my life is in that block of wood there.”
“If it is there, ’tis in a strange place; and it is little trouble you take for it. You should put it in some secure spot in the castle.”
“The place is good enough,” said he.
When Hung Up Naked went off next day, the wife told Blaiman all she had heard.
“His life is not there,” answered Blaiman; “try him again to-night.”
She searched the whole castle, and what silk or satin or jewels she found, she dressed with them the block of wood. When Hung Up Naked came home in the evening, and saw the block so richly decked, he laughed heartily.
“Why do you laugh?” asked the woman.
“Out of pity for you. It is not there that my life is at all.”
On hearing these words, she fainted, was stiff and cold for some time, till he began to fear she was dead.