He would not be their priest , he said ; he had too little learning for that . Saying this , he bent down his head and shook the stone off , so that it crushed one of the squire 's big toes . The squire went limping in to his wife , and the steward was sent for . He was told that he must devise some plan for getting rid of this terrible person . The scheme he had devised before had been of no use , and now good counsel was scarce . ` Oh , no ' said the steward , ` there are good enough ways yet . The squire can send him this evening to fish in Devilmoss Lake : he will never escape alive from there , for no one can go there by night for Old Eric . ' That was a grand idea , both the squire and his wife thought , and so he limped out again to Hans , and said that he would punish his men for having tried to make a fool of him . Meanwhile , Hans could do a little job where he would be free from these rascals . He should go out on the lake and fish there that night , and would then be free from all work on the following day . ` All right , ' said Hans ; ' I am well content with that , but I must have something with me to eat -- a baking of bread , a cask of butter , a barrel of ale , and a keg of brandy . I ca n't do with less than that . ' The squire said that he could easily get all that , so Hans got all of these tied up together , hung them over his shoulder on his good staff , and tramped away to Devilmoss Lake . There he got into the boat , rowed out upon the lake , and got everything ready to fish . As he now lay out there in the middle of the lake , and it was pretty late in the evening , he thought he would have something to eat first , before starting to work . Just as he was at his busiest with this , Old Eric rose out of the lake , caught him by the cuff of the neck , whipped him out of the boat , and dragged him down to the bottom . It was a lucky thing that Hans had his walking-stick with him that day , and had just time to catch hold of it when he felt Old Eric 's claws in his neck , so when they got down to the bottom he said , ` Stop now , just wait a little ; here is solid ground . ' With that he caught Old Eric by the back of the neck with one hand , and hammered away on his back with the staff , till he beat him out as flat as a pancake . Old Eric then began to lament and howl , begging him just to let him go , and he would never come back to the lake again . ` No , my good fellow , ' said Hans , ` you wo n't get off until you promise to bring all the fish in the lake up to the squire 's courtyard , before to-morrow morning . '
Old Eric eagerly promised this , if Hans would only let him go ; so Hans rowed ashore , ate up the rest of his provisions , and went home XXXXX bed .
As With for into over than that till to upon