, they used to lie down on the moss and sleep
till morning; and because their Mother knew they would do so, she felt
no concern about them. One time when they had thus passed the night in
the forest, and the dawn of morning awoke them, they saw a beautiful
Child dressed in shining white sitting near their couch. She got up
and looked at them kindly, but without saying anything went into the
forest; and when the children looked round they saw that where they
had slept was close to the edge of a pit, into which they would have
certainly fallen had they walked a couple of steps further in the dark.

Their Mother told them the figure they had seen was, doubtless, the
good angel who watches over children.

Snow-White and Rose-Red kept their Mother's cottage so clean that it
was a pleasure to enter it. Every morning in the summertime Rose-Red
would first put the house in order, and then gather a nosegay for her
Mother, in which she always placed a bud from each rose-tree. Every
winter's morning Snow-White would light the fire and put the kettle on
to boil, and, although the kettle was made of copper, it yet shone like
gold, because it was scoured so well. In the evenings, when the flakes
of snow were falling, the Mother would say, "Go, Snow-White, and bolt
the door;" and then they used to sit down on the hearth, and the Mother
would put on her spectacles and read out of a great book while her
children sat spinning. By their side, too, lay a little lamb, and on a
perch behind them a little white dove reposed with her head tucked
under her wing.

One evening when they were thus sitting comfortably together, there
came a knock at the door, as if somebody wished to come in. "Make
haste, Rose-Red," cried her Mother; "make haste and open the door;
perhaps there is some traveler outside who needs shelter."

So Rose-Red went and drew the bolt and opened the door, expecting to
see some poor man outside; but instead, a great fat bear poked his
black head in. Rose-Red shrieked out and ran back, the little lamb
bleated, the dove fluttered on her perch, and Snow-White hid herself
behind her Mother's bed. The Bear, however, began to speak, and said,
"Be not afraid, I will do you no harm; but I am half frozen, and wish
to come in and warm myself."

"Poor Bear!" cried the Mother; "come in and lie down before the fire;
but take care you do not burn your skin;" and then she continued, "Come
here, Rose-Red and Snow-White, the Bear will not