nd had always the
prettiest clothes to wear.

Maiden Bright-eye had also to watch the sheep, but of course it would
never do to let her go idle and enjoy herself too much at this work, so
she had to pull heather while she was out on the moors with them. Her
stepmother gave her pancakes to take with her for her dinner, but she
had mixed the flour with ashes, and made them just as bad as she could.

The little girl came out on the moor and began to pull heather on the
side of a little mound, but next minute a little fellow with a red cap
on his head popped up out of the mound and said:

'Who's that pulling the roof off my house?'

'Oh, it's me, a poor little girl,' said she; 'my mother sent me out
here, and told me to pull heather. If you will be good to me I will give
you a bit of my dinner.'

The little fellow was quite willing, and she gave him the biggest share
of her pancakes. They were not particularly good, but when one is hungry
anything tastes well. After he had got them all eaten he said to her:

'Now, I shall give you three wishes, for you are a very nice little
girl; but I will choose the wishes for you. You are beautiful, and much
more beautiful shall you be; yes, so lovely that there will not be your
like in the world. The next wish shall be that every time you open your
mouth a gold coin shall fall out of it, and your voice shall be like the
most beautiful music. The third wish shall be that you may be married to
the young king, and become the queen of the country. At the same time
I shall give you a cap, which you must carefully keep, for it can save
you, if you ever are in danger of your life, if you just put it on your
head.

Maiden Bright-eye thanked the little bergman ever so often, and drove
home her sheep in the evening. By that time she had grown so beautiful
that her people could scarcely recognise her. Her stepmother asked her
how it had come about that she had grown so beautiful. She told the
whole story--for she always told the truth--that a little man had come
to her out on the moor and had given her all this beauty. She did not
tell, however, that she had given him a share of her dinner.

The stepmother thought to herself, 'If one can become so beautiful by
going out there, my own daughter shall also be sent, for she can well
stand being made a little prettier.'

Next morning she baked for her the finest cakes, and dressed her
prettily to go out with the sheep. But she was afraid to