But the robbers they knew it well , because they got out their magic . So they told the youth that if he could take this ox also without the man knowing anything about it , and without doing him any hurt , he should then be on an equality with them . ` Well , that will not be a very hard thing to do , ' thought the youth . This time he took with him a rope and put it under his arms and tied himself up to a tree , which hung over the road that the man would have to take . So the man came with his ox , and when he saw the body hanging there he felt a little queer . ` What a hard lot yours must have been to make you hang yourself ! ' said he . ` Ah , well ! you may hang there for me ; I ca n't breathe life into you again . ' So on he went with his ox . Then the youth sprang down from the tree , ran by a short cut and got before him , and once more hung himself up on a tree in the road before the man . ` How I should like to know if you really were so sick at heart that you hanged yourself there , or if it is only a hobgoblin that 's before me ! ' said the man . ` Ah , well ! you may hang there for me , whether you are a hobgoblin or not , ' and on he went with his ox . Once more the youth did just as he had done twice already ; jumped down from the tree , ran by a short cut through the wood , and again hanged himself in the very middle of the road before him . But when the man once more saw this he said to himself , ` What a bad business this is ! Can they all have been so heavy-hearted that they have all three hanged themselves ? No , I ca n't believe that it is anything but witchcraft ! But I will know the truth , ' he said ; ` if the two others are still hanging there it is true but if they are not it 's nothing else but witchcraft . '
XXXXX he tied up his ox and ran back to see if they really were hanging there .
So by from if in of over that through to