told the King, and he came with his sword
and brandished it three times over the duck, and at the third time his
wife stood before him living, and hearty, and sound, as she had been
before.

The King was greatly rejoiced, but he hid the Queen in a chamber until
the Sunday came when the child was to be baptized. And after the baptism
he said,

"What does that person deserve who drags another out of bed and throws
him in the water?"

And the old woman answered,

"No better than to be put into a cask with iron nails in it, and to be
rolled in it down the hill into the water."

Then said the King,

"You have spoken your own sentence;" and he ordered a cask to be
fetched, and the old woman and her daughter were put into it, and the
top hammered down, and the cask was rolled down the hill into the river.

THE THREE SPINSTERS

THERE was once a girl who was lazy and would not spin, and her mother
could not persuade her to it, do what she would. At last the mother
became angry and out of patience, and gave her a good beating, so that
she cried out loudly. At that moment the Queen was going by; as she
heard the crying, she stopped; and, going into the house, she asked the
mother why she was beating her daughter, so that every one outside in
the street could hear her cries.

The woman was ashamed to tell of her daughter's laziness, so she said,

"I cannot stop her from spinning; she is for ever at it, and I am poor
and cannot furnish her with flax enough."

Then the Queen answered,

"I like nothing better than the sound of the spinning-wheel, and always
feel happy when I hear its humming; let me take your daughter with me to
the castle--I have plenty of flax, she shall spin there to her heart's
content."

The mother was only too glad of the offer, and the Queen took the girl
with her. When they reached the castle the Queen showed her three rooms
which were filled with the finest flax as full as they could hold.

"Now you can spin me this flax," said she, "and when you can show it me
all done you shall have my eldest son for bridegroom; you may be poor,
but I make nothing of that--your industry is dowry enough."

The girl was inwardly terrified, for she could not have spun the flax,
even if she were to live to be a hundred years old, and were to sit
spinning every day of her life from morning to evening. And when she
found herself alone she began to weep, and sat so for three days without
putting her han