ered carpet.

"Now we shall expect to hear what you dream of to-night," said the
youngest brother, as he showed his sister her bedroom.

"Heaven grant that I may dream how to release you!" she replied. And
this thought took such hold upon her mind that she prayed earnestly to
God for help, and even in her sleep she continued to pray. Then it
seemed to her that she was flying high in the air toward the cloudy
palace of the Fata Morgana, and that a fairy came out to meet her,
radiant and beautiful, yet much like the old woman who had given her
berries in the wood, and who had told her of the swans with golden
crowns on their heads.

"Your brothers can be released," said she, "if you only have courage and
perseverance. Water is softer than your own delicate hands, and yet it
polishes and shapes stones. But it feels no pain such as your fingers
will feel; it has no soul and cannot suffer such agony and torment as
you will have to endure. Do you see the stinging nettle which I hold in
my hand? Quantities of the same sort grow round the cave in which you
sleep, but only these, and those that grow on the graves of a
churchyard, will be of any use to you. These you must gather, even while
they burn blisters on your hands. Break them to pieces with your hands
and feet, and they will become flax, from which you must spin and weave
eleven coats with long sleeves; if these are then thrown over the eleven
swans, the spell will be broken. But remember well, that from the moment
you commence your task until it is finished, even though it occupy years
of your life, you must not speak. The first word you utter will pierce
the hearts of your brothers like a deadly dagger. Their lives hang upon
your tongue. Remember all that I have told you."

And as she finished speaking, she touched Eliza's hand lightly with the
nettle, and a pain as of burning fire awoke her.

It was broad daylight, and near her lay a nettle like the one she had
seen in her dream. She fell on her knees and offered thanks to God. Then
she went forth from the cave to begin work with her delicate hands. She
groped in amongst the ugly nettles, which burned great blisters on her
hands and arms, but she determined to bear the pain gladly if she could
only release her dear brothers. So she bruised the nettles with her bare
feet and spun the flax.

At sunset her brothers returned, and were much frightened when she did
not speak. They believed her to be under the spell of