with horror that the eagle had seized their old
acquaintance the dwarf, and was going to carry him off.

The children, full of pity, at once took tight hold of the little man,
and pulled against the eagle so long that at last he let his booty go.
As soon as the dwarf had recovered from his first fright he cried with
his shrill voice, "Could you not have done it more carefully? You
dragged at my brown coat so that it is all torn and full of holes, you
helpless, clumsy creatures!" Then he took up a sack full of precious
stones, and slipped away again under the rock into his hole. The girls,
who by this time were used to his thanklessness, went on their way and
did their business in the town.

As they crossed the heath again on their way home they surprised the
dwarf, who had emptied out his bag of precious stones in a clean spot,
and had not thought that any one would come there so late. The evening
sun shone upon the brilliant stones; they glittered and sparkled with
all colors so beautifully that the children stood still and looked at
them. "Why do you stand gaping there?" cried the dwarf, and his
ashen-gray face became copper-red with rage. He was going on with his
bad words when a loud growling was heard, and a black bear came trotting
towards them out of the forest. The dwarf sprang up in a fright, but he
could not get to his cave, for the bear was already close. Then in the
dread of his heart he cried, "Dear Mr. Bear, spare me, I will give you
all my treasures; look, the beautiful jewels lying there! Grant me my
life; what do you want with such a slender little fellow as I? You would
not feel me between your teeth. Come, take these two wicked girls, they
are tender morsels for you, fat as young quails; for mercy's sake eat
them!" The bear took no heed of his words, but gave the wicked creature
a single blow with his paw, and he did not move again.

The girls had run away, but the bear called to them, "Snow-white and
Rose-red, do not be afraid; wait, I will come with you." Then they knew
his voice and waited, and when he came up to them suddenly his bearskin
fell off, and he stood there a handsome man, clothed all in gold. "I am
a King's son," he said, "and I was bewitched by that wicked dwarf, who
had stolen my treasures. I have had to run about the forest as a savage
bear until I was freed by his death. Now he has got his well-deserved
punishment."

Snow-white was married to him, and Rose-red to his brother, an