er sisters and the nurse, and when they
were in his presence he said to the bird: "Bird, you who have told me
everything, now pronounce their sentence." Then the bird sentenced the
nurse to be thrown out of the window, and the sisters to be cast into a
cauldron of boiling oil. This was at once done. The king was never tired
of embracing his wife. Then the bird departed and the king and his wife
and children lived together in peace.[10]

* * * * *

We next pass to the class of stories in which children are promised by
their parents to witches or the Evil One. The children who are thus
promised are often unborn, and the promise is made by the parents either
to escape some danger with which they are threatened by witch or demon,
or in return for money. Sometimes there is a misunderstanding, as in
Grimm's story of the "Handless Maiden," where the Miller in return for
riches promises the Evil One to give him "what stands behind his mill."
The Miller supposes his apple-tree is meant, but it is his daughter, who
happened to be behind the mill when the compact was made. The most usual
form of the story in Italian is this: A woman who expects to give birth
to a child is seized with a great longing for some herb or fruit
(generally parsley) growing in the witch's garden. The witch (ogress)
catches her picking it, and only releases her on condition that she
shall give her the child after it is born and has reached a definite
age. The following Sicilian story from Gonzenbach (No. 53) will
illustrate this class sufficiently:

V. THE FAIR ANGIOLA.

Once upon a time there were seven women, neighbors, all of whom were
seized with a great longing for some jujubes which only grew in a garden
opposite the place where they all lived, and which belonged to a witch.
Now this witch had a donkey that watched the garden and told the old
witch when any one entered. The seven neighbors, however, had such a
desire for the jujubes that they entered the garden and threw the donkey
some nice soft grass, and while he was eating it they filled their
aprons with jujubes and escaped before the witch appeared. This they did
several times, until at last the witch noticed that some one had been in
her garden, for many of the jujubes were gone. She questioned the
donkey, but he had eaten the nice grass and noticed nothing. Then she
resolved the third day to remain in the garden herself. In the middle of
it was a hole, in