her. But Rosy-red knew different. She hastened away
to her own little room and hid her slippers of which she was very
proud.

"They have turned my dear granny out of doors; they will take from me
my beautiful slippers," she sobbed.

After that, Rosy-red sang no more. She became a somber girl and a
drudge. The birds could not understand. They followed her through the
woods, but she was silent, as if she had been stricken dumb, and her
eyes always seemed eager to be shedding tears. Also, she was too busy
to notice her feathered friends.

She had to collect firewood for the home, to draw water from the well
and struggle along with the heavy bucket whose weight made her arms
and her back ache with pain. Sometimes, too, her white arms were
scarred with bruises, for her cruel and selfish step-sisters did not
hesitate to beat her. Often they went out to parties, or to dances,
and on these occasions she had to act as their maid and help them to
dress. Rosy-red did not mind; she was only happy when they were out of
the house. Then only did she sing softly to herself, and the birds
came to listen.

And thus many unhappy years passed away.

Once, when her father was away from home, her step-sisters went off to
a wedding dance. They told her not to forget to draw water from the
well, and warned her that if she forgot, as she did the last time,
they would beat her without mercy when they returned.

So Rosy-red, tired though she was, went out in the darkness to draw
water. She lowered the bucket, but the cord broke and the pail fell to
the bottom of the well. She ran back home for a long stick with a hook
at the end of it to recover the bucket, and as she put it into the
water she sang:

Swing and sweep till all does cling
And to the surface safely bring.

Now it so happened that a sleeping jinn dwelt at the bottom of the
well. He could only be awakened by a spell, and although Rosy-red did
not know it, the words she uttered, which she had once heard her
granny use, were the spell.

The jinn awoke, and he was so delighted with the sweet voice that he
promptly decided to help the girl whom he saw peering down into the
water. He fastened the bucket to the stick and, taking some jewels
from a treasure of which he was the guardian, he put them inside.

"Oh, how beautiful," cried Rosy-red when she saw the glittering gems.
"They are ever so much nicer than those my sisters put on to go to
the ball."

Then she sat th