森林中的三個小矮人

She replied, "there is not enough for me myself. How can I give some of it to others?"

　　When she was finished eating they said, "Here is a broom for you. Sweep in front of the back door."

　　"Sweep for yourselves," she answered. "I am not your maid."

　　Seeing that they were not going to give her anything, she walked out the door.

　　then the little men said to one another, "What shall we give her for being so impolite and having a wicked and envious heart that will never let her give a thing to anyone?"

　　the first one said, "I grant that every day she shall grow uglier."

　　the second one said, "I grant that a toad shall jump out of her mouth with every word she says."

　　the third one said, "I grant that she shall die an unfortunate death."

　　the girl looked outside for strawberries, but finding none, she went home angrily. And when she opened her mouth to tell her mother what had happened to her in the woods, a toad jumped out of her mouth with every word she said, so that everyone was repulsed by her.

　　the stepmother now became even more angry, and she could think of nothing else but how she could torment the man's daughter, who nonetheless GREw more beautiful every day. Finally she took a kettle, set it on the fire, and boiled yarn in it. When it was boiled, she hung it on the poor girl's shoulder, gave her an ax, and told her to go to the frozen river, chop a hole in the ice, and rinse the yarn. She obeyed, went to the river and chopped a hole in the ice. While she was chopping, a splendid carriage approached, with the king seated inside.

　　the carriage stopped, and the king asked, "My child, who are you, and what are you doing here?"

　　"I am a poor girl, and I am rinsing yarn."

　　the king felt compassion, and when he saw how very beautiful she was, he said to her, "Will you ride with me?"

　　"Gladly," she answered, for she was happy to get away from the mother and sister.

　　So she got into the carriage and rode away with the king. When they arrived at his palace their wedding was celebrated with GREat pomp, just as the little men had promised the girl.

　　A year later the young queen gave birth to a son, and when the stepmother heard of her good fortune, she came with her daughter to the palace, pretending that she wanted to pay her a visit. But when the king went out, and no one else was present, the wicked woman seized the queen by the head, and her daughter seized her by the feet, and lifting her out of her bed, they threw her out the window into the stream that flowed by.

　　After that the ugly daughter lay down in the bed, and the old woman covered her up over her head. When the king returned and wanted to speak to his wife, the old woman said, "Quiet. Quiet. You cannot talk to her now. She has a very high fever. You must let her rest today."

　　the king suspected no evil, and did not return until the next morning. As he then talked with his wife, and she answered him, a toad jumped out with every word, whereas previously a piece of gold had fallen out. When he asked what was the matter, the old woman said that it came from her high fever, and that she would soon lose it.

　　During the night the kitchen boy saw a duck swimming along the gutter, and it said, "King, what are you doing? Are you awake or are you asleep?"

　　Receiving no answer, it said, "What are my guests doing?"

　　then the kitchen boy answered, "They are fast asleep."

　　She asked further, "What is my little baby doing?"

　　He answered, "He is sound asleep in his cradle."

　　then, in the form of the queen, she went upstairs, nursed the baby, fluffed up his cover, tucked him in, and then she swam off through the gutter as a duck.

　　She came in the same manner for two nights. On the third night, she said to the kitchen boy, "Go and tell the king to take his sword and on the threshold to swing it over me three times."

　　the kitchen boy ran and told this to the king, who came with his sword and swung it over the spirit three times, and after the third time, his wife was standing before him, vigorous, alive, and healthy, as she had been before.

　　the king was elated, but he kept the queen hidden in a room until the Sunday when the baby was to be baptized. At the baptism he said, "What does a person deserve who drags someone out of bed and throws him into the water?"

　　the old woman answered, "The scoundrel deserves nothing better than to be put into a barrel stuck full of nails, and then rolled downhill into the water."

　　then the king said, "You have pronounced your own sentence."

　　He ordered such a barrel to be brought. the old woman and her daughter were put into it, and the top was hammered shut. Then the barrel was rolled downhill until it fell into the river.