er.

'And let the tiniest singing birds in the world sit amongst the
flowers,' rejoined the third.

'Yes, that will do beautifully,' said the first. And when the girl
stepped into her cottage a wreath of rosebuds was on her head, and a
crowd of little birds were singing unseen.

The father, who was sitting by the fire, thought that, in spite of her
muddy clothes, he had never seen his daughter looking so lovely; but the
stepmother and the other girl grew wild with envy.

'How absurd to walk about on such a pouring night, dressed up like
that,' she remarked crossly, and roughly pulled off the wreath as she
spoke, to place it on her own daughter. As she did so the roses became
withered and brown, and the birds flew out of the window.

'See what a trumpery thing it is!' cried the stepmother; 'and now take
your supper and go to bed, for it is near upon midnight.'

But though she pretended to despise the wreath, she longed none the less
for her daughter to have one like it.

Now it happened that the next evening the father, who had been alone in
the forest, came back a second time without his axe. The stepmother's
heart was glad when she saw this, and she said quite mildly:

'Why, you have forgotten your axe again, you careless man! But now your
daughter shall stay at home, and mine shall go and bring it back'; and
throwing a cloak over the girl's shoulders, she bade her hasten to the
forest.

With a very ill grace the damsel set forth, grumbling to herself as she
went; for though she wished for the wreath, she did not at all want the
trouble of getting it.

By the time she reached the spot where her stepfather had been cutting
the wood the girl was in a very bad temper indeed, and when she caught
sight of the axe, there were the three little doves, with drooping heads
and soiled, bedraggled feathers, sitting on the handle.

'You dirty creatures,' cried she, 'get away at once, or I will throw
stones at you! And the doves spread their wings in a fright and flew up
to the very top of a tree, their bodies shaking with anger.

'What shall we do to revenge ourselves on her?' asked the smallest of
the doves, 'we were never treated like that before.'

'Never,' said the biggest dove. 'We must find some way of paying her
back in her own coin!'

'I know,' answered the middle dove; 'she shall never be able to say
anything but "dirty creatures" to the end of her life.'

'Oh, how clever of you! That will do beautifully,