So he went to the grave and began to call aloud:
“Comrade dear! I invite thee to my wedding.”
Suddenly the grave yawned, the dead man arose, and said:
“Thanks be to thee, brother, that thou hast fulfilled thy promise. And now, that we may profit by this happy chance, enter my abode. Let us quaff a glass apiece of grateful drink.”
“I’d have gone, only the marriage procession is stopping outside; all the folks are waiting for me.”
“Eh, brother!” replied the dead man, “surely it won’t take long to toss off a glass!”
The bridegroom jumped into the grave. The dead man poured him out a cup of liquor. He drank it off—and a hundred years passed away.
“Quaff another cup, dear friend!” said the dead man.
He drank a second cup—two hundred years passed away.
“Now, comrade dear, quaff a third cup!” said the dead man, “and then go, in God’s name, and celebrate thy marriage!”