yes , you are right enough , for it is here , '' said the old man . `` When you get inside they will all want to buy your ham , for they do n't get much meat to eat there ; but you must not sell it unless you can get the hand-mill which stands behind the door for it . When you come out again I will teach you how to stop the hand-mill , which is useful for almost everything . '' So the man with the ham thanked the other for his good advice , and rapped at the door . When he got in , everything happened just as the old man had said it would : all the people , great and small , came round him like ants on an ant-hill , and each tried to outbid the other for the ham . `` By rights my old woman and I ought to have it for our Christmas dinner , but , since you have set your hearts upon it , I must just give it up to you , '' said the man . `` But , if I sell it , I will have the hand-mill which is standing there behind the door . '' At first they would not hear of this , and haggled and bargained with the man , but he stuck to what he had said , and the people were forced to give him the hand-mill . When the man came out again into the yard , he asked the old wood-cutter how he was to stop the hand-mill , and when he had learned that , he thanked him and set off home with all the speed he could , but did not get there until after the clock had struck twelve on Christmas Eve . `` Where in the world have you been ? '' said the old woman . `` Here I have sat waiting hour after hour , and have not even two sticks to lay across each other under the Christmas porridge-pot . '' `` Oh ! I could not come before ; I had something of importance to see about , and a long way to go , too ; but now you shall just see ! '' said the man , and then he set the hand-mill on the table , and bade it first grind light , then a table-cloth , and then meat , and beer , and everything else that was good for a Christmas Eve 's supper ; and the mill ground all that he ordered . `` Bless me ! '' said the old woman as one thing after another appeared ; and she wanted to know where her husband had got the mill from , but he would not tell her that . `` Never mind where I got it ; you can see that it is a good one , and the water that turns it will never freeze , '' said the man . So he ground meat and drink , and all kinds of good things , to last all Christmas-tide , and on the third day he invited all his friends to come to a feast . Now when the rich brother saw all that there was at the banquet and in the house , he was both vexed and angry , for he grudged everything his brother had .
`` On Christmas Eve he was so poor that he came to me and begged for a trifle , XXXXX God 's sake , and now he gives a feast as if he were both a count and a king ! ''
By after as behind for from if in into on