“Give me my daughter once more, and you will be her husband,” said Filina’s father quickly. “No—no!” yelled Hocky; “the statue is mine—mine!” “What do you all say?” said Kelch, turning to the villagers. “You drove me from my home because you said I was a magician; now I have brought back Filina, and can restore her to life, so you see I am not so bad as you thought I was.” “You shall be her husband!” cried the villagers; “we believe you to be a good lad.” “If you give him the golden statue, I’ll ruin the whole village!” cried Hocky in a rage. “You know I can do it.” And indeed it was the truth, for Hocky had lent the villagers a lot of money, and in return they had given over their lands and houses to him, so he was really owner of the whole place. All the villagers were dismayed at this, and Filina’s father began to weep, for he thought he would never hear his daughter’s merry voice again, when Kelch spoke. “I’ll restore Filina to life and get rid of Hocky, if you withdraw your accusations of my being a magician.” “Yes, yes!” they all cried; “you are no magician—you are a good man, and shall marry Filina.” “And how will you get rid of me?” asked Hocky, angrily turning to Kelch. “By giving you more gold than you ever saw before in your life,” replied Kelch. “Will you agree to that?” “Yes, I will,” replied Hocky greedily, “if you give me more gold than I’ve got, and more gold than there is in this statue of Filina.” “Very well,” observed Kelch; “in order to see more gold than you ever saw in your life, all you’ve got to do is to pull that ring off Filina’s finger and place it on your own.” “Hurrah!” cried Hocky, turning to the statue. “I’ll do it at once.” [Illustration] He pulled the ring off the finger of the statue with the greatest ease, and slipped it on his own with a greedy laugh, when suddenly there was a loud crash like thunder, and Hocky vanished into air, while Filina, once more a bright, laughing girl, hastened forward to kiss her father. “Where is Hocky?” asked all the villagers, when they had congratulated Filina. “Gone where he’ll never trouble you again,” replied Kelch, with a laugh, taking his sweetheart in his arms. “Now, am I to marry Filina?” “Yes, yes! Hurrah!” every one cried. Then Filina put on her bridal dress, all the village was decked with flags, the school children received a half-holiday, and Kelch married his sweetheart that afternoon. They lived long and happily together, and when Filina’s father died, he left them all his property, and the gold Kelch had brought from the castle of the Wicked Baron. Hocky never came back again, which made Kelch think that he must have had a lot of bad in him, as it took such a long time to burn out. Kelch paid a visit to the oak tree and thanked the kind Owl; when she, hearing that the Wicked Baron’s castle was in ruins, left her oak tree and went to live there, where no doubt she is still.