"No, I'm sure I can't," said Peik, "for I've forgotten my fooling rods."
"Can't you go home and fetch them?" said the King, "I should be very
glad to see if you are such a trickster as folks say."
"I've no strength to walk," said Peik.
"I'll lend you a horse and saddle," said the King
"But I can't ride either," said Peik.
"We'll lift you up," said the King, "then you'll be able to stick on."
Well, Peik stood and scratched his head as though he would pull the hair
off, and he let them lift him up into the saddle. There he sat, swinging
this side and that, so long as the King could see him, and the King
laughed till the tears came into his eyes, for such a tailor on
horseback he had never seen. But when Peik was come well into the wood
behind the hill, so that he was out of the King's sight, he sat as
though he were tied to the horse, and off he rode as fast as the horse
could carry him. But when he got to the town he sold both horse and
saddle.
All the while the King walked up and down, and loitered, and waited for
Peik to come tottering back again with his fooling rods. And every now
and then he laughed when he called to mind how wretched the lad looked
as he sat swinging about on the horse like a sack of corn, not knowing
on which side to fall off. This lasted for seven lengths and seven
breaths, but no Peik came, and so at last the King saw that he was
fooled and cheated out of his horse and saddle, even though Peik had not
had his fooling rods with him.
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