when he was an orphan of five , following his father a travelling spirit servant across the farmlands and the minelands , where treth the elder provided his humble , low-earning services ( that mostly consisted of invoking the spirits to help cure misery and affliction too great to be dispelled by mere hope ) , he constantly dreamt of one day having a house of his own instead of sleeping in barns and chicken coops or , when not even those were available , out in the open like a vagrant , in the mercy of the elements ; then the sufferers would come to him , and thus he could demand heftier payment than a basket of eggs or a head of cheese to undo hexes , protect from ill will and pray for prompt marriage or greater cattle fecundity .