“Ah,” said the youth, “I wish to learn what shivering is, but no one can teach me.”
“Nonsense!” said the carter. “Just you come with me and I’ll see that your desire is gratified.”
So the youth went with the carter, and in the evening they reached an inn and arranged to stay there for the night. “Oh that I could learn to shiver! Oh that I could learn to shake!” sighed the youth as he sat down to wait for supper.
The landlord laughed, and said, “If that’s what you want, you can have plenty of opportunity for learning here.”
“Hold your tongue,” said the landlady. “Many an imprudent fellow has paid the penalty for his curiosity with his life already. It would be a sin and a shame not to have this stranger’s bright eyes see the light of day again.”
But the youth said: “However difficult it may be to learn what shivering is, the lesson is one I am eager to learn. I left my home to seek such knowledge.”
He would not be put off with evasions, and at last the landlord told him that not far distant stood an enchanted castle, and that any one who stayed there over night would surely learn to shiver. Moreover, the king had promised his daughter in marriage to the man who would spend three nights in the castle, and every one said she was the most beautiful young lady the sun ever shone on. Such a vigil would break the spell that was on the castle, and he who accomplished this would become master of a great treasure hidden there and guarded by evil spirits. But many, aspiring to win the princess and the treasure and the renown, had gone into the castle, and not one had ever come out.
The next morning the youth went to the king, and said, “By your leave, I would like to pass three nights in the enchanted castle.”
His request was granted, though with some reluctance, for the king took a fancy to the lad, and was sorry to think of his probable fate.
When night came, the youth went to the castle, made a bright fire in one of the rooms, and sat down beside it. “Oh, if I could only shiver!” said he, “but I doubt if I can learn how even here.”