nd
I shall see him. Ah, Fair Brother, Fair Brother, I have given you feet;
why have you so used me?"

Presently she heard a sound of footsteps, and there came Fair Brother
running towards her. She saw his face pale and ghostlike, yet he never
looked at her, but ran past and on without stopping.

"Fair Brother, Fair Brother, wait for me; do not outrun me!" cried
Little Sister; and was up in haste to be after him.

He ran fast, and would not stop; but she ran fast too, for her love
would not let him go. Once she nearly had him by the hair, and once she
caught him by the cloak; but in her hand it shredded and crumbled like a
dry leaf; and still, though there was no breath left in her, she ran on.

And now she began to wonder, for Fair Brother was running the way that
she knew well--towards the tree from which she had cut the two strips
of bark. Her feet were failing her; she knew that she could run no more.
Just as they came together in sight of the birch-tree Little Sister
stumbled and fell.

She saw Fair Brother run on and strike with his hands and feet against
the tree, and cry, "Oh, White Birch, White Birch, lift the latch up,
or she will catch me!" And at once the tree opened its rind, and Fair
Brother ran in.

"So," said Little Sister, "you are there, are you, Brother? I know,
then, what I have done to you."

She went and laid her ear to the tree, and inside she could hear Fair
Brother sobbing and crying. It sounded to her as if White Birch were
beating him.

"Well, well, Fair Brother, she shall not beat you for long!" said Little
Sister.

She went home and waited till the next full moon had come. Then, as soon
as it was dark, she went along through the wood until she came to the
place, and there she crept close to the white birch-tree and waited.

Presently she heard Fair Brother's voice come faintly out of the heart
of the tree: "White Birch, it is the full moon and the hour in which
Little Sister gave life to my feet. For one hour give me leave to go,
that I may run home and look at her while she sleeps. I will not stop or
speak, and I promise you that I will return."

Then she heard the voice of White Birch answer grudgingly: "It is her
hour and I cannot hold you, therefore you may go. Only when you come
again I will beat you."

Then the tree opened a little way, and Fair Brother ran out. He ran so
quickly in his eager haste that Little Sister had not time to catch
him, and she did not dare to cal