for then will I come and fetch thee , and bear thee away with me in a sack , and thou must lay all thy gold and silver , and whatsoever thou may ` st possess of this world 's wealth , in a heap in thy best parlour . ' So Father Lawrence fell down on his knees before the angel and thanked him , and the following Sunday he preached a farewell sermon , and gave out that an angel had come down into the large maple tree in his garden , and had announced to him that , because of his righteousness , he should be taken up alive into heaven , and as he thus preached and told them this everyone in the church , old or young , wept . On Monday night the Master Thief once more came as an angel , and before the Priest was put into the sack he fell on his knees and thanked him ; but no sooner was the Priest safely inside it than the Master Thief began to drag him away over stocks and stones . ` Oh ! oh ! ` cried the Priest in the sack . ` Where are you taking me ? ' ` This is the way to heaven . The way to heaven is not an easy one , ' said the Master Thief , and dragged him along till he all but killed him . At last he flung him into the Governor 's goose-house , and the geese began to hiss and peck at him , till he felt more dead than alive . ` Oh ! oh ! oh ! Where am I now ? ' asked the Priest . ` Now you are in Purgatory , ' said the Master Thief , and off he went and took the gold and the silver and all the precious things which the Priest had laid together in his best parlour . Next morning , when the goose-girl came to let out the geese , she heard the Priest bemoaning himself as he lay in the sack in the goose-house . ` Oh , heavens ! who is that , and what ails you ? ' said she .
` Oh , ' said the Priest , ` if you are an angel from heaven do let me out and let me go back to earth again , for no place was ever so bad as this -- the little fiends nip me so XXXXX their tongs . ' '
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