let me out, and I'll never come near you again.'

'Very well!' said the Smith; 'now, I think, the links are pretty well
welded, and you may come out'; so he unclasped the purse, and away
went the Devil in such a hurry that he didn't once look behind him.

Now, some time after, it came across the Smith's mind that he had
done a silly thing in making the Devil his enemy, for, he said to
himself:

'If, as is like enough, they won't have me in the kingdom of Heaven,
I shall be in danger of being houseless, since I've fallen out with
him who rules over Hell.'

So he made up his mind it would be best to try to get either into
Hell or Heaven, and to try at once, rather than to put it off any
longer, so that he might know how things really stood. Then he threw
his sledge-hammer over his shoulder and set off; and when he had gone
a good bit of the way, he came to a place where two roads met, and
where the path to the kingdom of Heaven parts from the path that
leads to Hell, and here he overtook a tailor, who was pelting along
with his goose in his hand.

'Good day', said the Smith; 'whither are you off to?'

'To the kingdom of Heaven', said the Tailor, 'if I can only get into
it'--'but whither are you going yourself?'

'Oh, our ways don't run together', said the Smith; 'for I have made
up my mind to try first in Hell, as the Devil and I know something of