` They will come and let me in presently , ' he thought to himself ; but no one came . He hammered at the gate ; still no one appeared . Then he got tired of waiting , and smashed at the gate with his staff until he knocked it in pieces and got inside . A whole troop of little demons came down upon him and asked what he wanted . His master 's compliments , said Hans , and he wanted three years ' tribute . At this they howled at him , and were about to lay hold of him and drag him off ; but when they had got some raps from his walking-stick they let go again , howled still louder than before , and ran in to Old Eric , who was still in bed , after his adventure in the lake . They told him that a messenger had come from the squire at Devilmoss to demand three years ' tribute . He had knocked the gate to pieces and bruised their arms and legs with his iron staff . ` Give him three years ' ! give him ten ! ' shouted Old Eric , ` only do n't let him come near me . ' So all the little demons came dragging so much silver and gold that it was something awful . Hans filled his bundle with gold and silver coins , put it on his neck , and tramped back to his master , who was scared beyond all measure at seeing him again . But Hans was also tired of service now . Of all the gold and silver he brought with him he let the squire keep one half , and he was glad enough , both for the money and at getting rid of Hans . The other half he took home to his father the smith in Furreby . To him also he said , ` Farewell ; ' he was now tired of living on shore among mortal men , and preferred to go home again to his mother . Since that time no one has ever seen Hans , the Mermaid 's son . Peter Bull From the Danish . There once lived in Denmark a peasant and his wife who owned a very good farm , but had no children .
They often lamented to each other that they had no one of their own XXXXX inherit all the wealth that they possessed .
beyond for from in near of that to until upon