f they had not had some
good reason for doing so. Perhaps now, in my hour of need, they may be
of use to me.'

So she took the bones out of her bundle, and having thought for a
moment, she placed the two ends together. To her surprise they stuck
tight; then she added the other bones, till she had two long poles the
height of the house; these she placed against the wall, at a distance of
a yard from one another. Across them she placed the other bones, piece
by piece, like the steps of a ladder. As soon as one step was finished
she stood upon it and made the next one, and then the next, till she
was close to the door. But just as she got near the top she noticed that
there were no bones left for the last rung of the ladder. What was she
to do? Without that last step the whole ladder was useless. She must
have lost one of the bones. Then suddenly an idea came to her. Taking
a knife she chopped off her little finger, and placing it on the last
step, it stuck as the bones had done. The ladder was complete, and with
her child on her arm she entered the door of the house. Here she found
everything in perfect order. Having taken some food, she laid the child
down to sleep in a trough that was on the floor, and sat down herself to
rest.

When her husband, the Pig, came back to his house, he was startled by
what he saw. At first he could not believe his eyes, and stared at the
ladder of bones, and at the little finger on the top of it. He felt that
some fresh magic must be at work, and in his terror he almost turned
away from the house; but then a better idea came to him, and he changed
himself into a dove, so that no witchcraft could have power over him,
and flew into the room without touching the ladder. Here he found a
woman rocking a child. At the sight of her, looking so changed by all
that she had suffered for his sake, his heart was moved by such love and
longing and by so great a pity that he suddenly became a man.

The Princess stood up when she saw him, and her heart beat with fear,
for she did not know him. But when he had told her who he was, in her
great joy she forgot all her sufferings, and they seemed as nothing to
her. He was a very handsome man, as straight as a fir tree. They sat
down together and she told him all her adventures, and he wept with pity
at the tale. And then he told her his own history.

'I am a King's son. Once when my father was fighting against some
dragons, who were the scourge of our cou