finally got into the pot, as the sausage used to
do, to stir and flavour the broth, but then she had to part with fur and
skin, and lastly with life!

And when the bird came to dish up the dinner, there was no cook to be
seen; and he turned over the heap of wood, and looked and looked, but
the cook never appeared again. By accident the wood caught fire, and the
bird hastened to fetch water to put it out, but he let fall the bucket
in the well, and himself after it, and as he could not get out again, he
was obliged to be drowned.

MOTHER HULDA

A WIDOW had two daughters; one was pretty and industrious, the other was
ugly and lazy. And as the ugly one was her own daughter, she loved her
much the best, and the pretty one was made to do all the work, and be
the drudge of the house. Every day the poor girl had to sit by a well on
the high road and spin until her fingers bled. Now it happened once that
as the spindle was bloody, she dipped it into the well to wash it; but
it slipped out of her hand and fell in. Then she began to cry, and ran
to her step-mother, and told her of her misfortune; and her step-mother
scolded her without mercy, and said in her rage,

"As you have let the spindle fall in, you must go and fetch it out
again!"

Then the girl went back again to the well, not knowing what to do, and
in the despair of her heart she jumped down into the well the same way
the spindle had gone. After that she knew nothing; and when she came to
herself she was in a beautiful meadow, and the sun was shining on the
flowers that grew round her. And she walked on through the meadow until
she came to a baker's oven that was full of bread; and the bread called
out to her,

"Oh, take me out, take me out, or I shall burn; I am baked enough
already!"

[Illustration: MOTHER HULDA

"THEN THE GIRL WENT BACK AGAIN
TO THE WELL NOT KNOWING WHAT
TO DO, AND IN THE DESPAIR OF HER
HEART SHE JUMPED DOWN INTO
THE WELL THE SAME WAY THE
SPINDLE HAD GONE."]

Then she drew near, and with the baker's peel she took out all the
loaves one after the other. And she went farther on till she came to
a tree weighed down with apples, and it called out to her,

"Oh, shake me, shake me, we apples are all of us ripe!"

Then she shook the tree until the apples fell like rain, and she shook
until there were no more to fall; and when she had gathered them
together in a heap, she went on farther. At last she came to