it, he was quite terrified;
but the wedding feast was all prepared, as regarded brewing and baking,
and all the wedding guests were sitting waiting, so, ugly as she was,
the King was forced to take her.

But he was very wroth, and none can blame him for that; so he caused the
brother to be thrown into a pit full of snakes.

On the first Thursday night after this, a beautiful maiden came into the
kitchen of the palace, and begged the kitchen-maid, who slept there,
to lend her a brush. She begged very prettily, and got it, and then she
brushed her hair, and the gold dropped from it.

A little dog was with her, and she said to it, 'Go out, Little Snow, and
see if it will soon be day!'

This she said thrice, and the third time that she sent out the dog to
see, it was very near dawn. Then she was forced to depart, but as she
went she said:

'Out on thee, ugly Bushy Bride,
Sleeping so soft by the young King's side,
On sand and stones my bed I make,
And my brother sleeps with the cold snake,
Unpitied and unwept.'

I shall come twice more, and then never again,' said she.

In the morning the kitchen-maid related what she had seen and heard,
and the King said that next Thursday night he himself would watch in the
kitchen and see if this were true, and when it had begun to grow dark he
went out into the kitchen to the girl. But though he rubbed his eyes and
did everything he could to keep himself awake it was all in vain, for
the Bushy Bride crooned and sang till his eyes were fast closed, and
when the beautiful young maiden came he was sound asleep and snoring.

This time also, as before, she borrowed a brush and brushed her hair
with it, and the gold dropped down as she did it; and again she sent the
dog out three times, and when day dawned she departed, but as she was
going she said as she had said before, 'I shall come once more, and then
never again.'

On the third Thursday night the King once more insisted on keeping
watch. Then he set two men to hold him; each of them was to take an arm,
and shake him and jerk him by the arm whenever he seemed to be going
to fall asleep; and he set two men to watch his Bushy Bride. But as the
night wore on the Bushy Bride again began to croon and to sing, so that
his eyes began to close and his head to droop on one side. Then came
the lovely maiden, and got the brush and brushed her hair till the gold
dropped from it, and then she sent her Little