The eldest laughed when he heard this , and thought to himself : `` Good heavens ! what a ninny my brother is ! he 'll never come to any good ; as the twig is bent , so is the tree inclined . '' The father sighed , and answered him : `` You 'll soon learn to shudder ; but that wo n't help you to make a living . '' Shortly after this , when the sexton came to pay them a visit , the father broke out to him , and told him what a bad hand his youngest son was at everything : he knew nothing and learned nothing . `` Only think ! when I asked him how he purposed gaining a livelihood , he actually asked to be taught to shudder . '' `` If that 's all he wants , '' said the sexton , `` I can teach him that ; just you send him to me , I 'll soon polish him up . '' The father was quite pleased with the proposal , because he thought : `` It will be a good discipline for the youth . '' And so the sexton took him into his house , and his duty was to toll the bell . After a few days he woke him at midnight , and bade him rise and climb into the tower and toll . `` Now , my friend , I 'll teach you to shudder , '' thought he . He stole forth secretly in front , and when the youth was up above , and had turned round to grasp the bell-rope , he saw , standing opposite the hole of the belfry , a white figure . `` Who 's there ? '' he called out , but the figure gave no answer , and neither stirred nor moved . `` Answer , '' cried the youth , `` or begone ; you have no business here at this hour of the night . '' But the sexton remained motionless , so that the youth might think that it was a ghost . The youth called out the second time : `` What do you want here ? Speak if you are an honest fellow , or I 'll knock you down the stairs . '' The sexton thought : `` He ca n't mean that in earnest , '' so gave forth no sound , and stood as though he were made of stone .
Then the youth shouted out to him the third time , and as that too had no effect , he made a dash XXXXX the spectre and knocked it down the stairs , so that it fell about ten steps and remained lying in a corner .
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