The Pink Fairy Book | Page 7

bring me my lunch into the wood; and so that she shall
not lose her way, I will take a bag of millet with me, and sprinkle the
seed on the path.'
When the sun had risen high over the forest, the girl set out with a basin
of soup. But the field and wood sparrows, the larks and finches,
blackbirds and green finches had picked up the millet long ago, and the
girl could not find her way.
She went on and on, till the sun set and night came on. The trees rustled

in the darkness, the owls hooted, and she began to be very much
frightened. Then she saw in tile distance a light that twinkled between
the trees. 'There must be people living yonder,' she thought, 'who will
take me in for the night,' and she began walking towards it.
Not long afterwards she came to a house with lights in the windows.
She knocked at the door, and a gruff voice called, 'Come in!'
The girl stepped into the dark entrance, and tapped at the door of the
room.
'Just walk in,' cried the voice, and when she opened the door there sat
an old gray-haired man at the table. His face was resting on his hands,
and his white beard flowed over the table almost down to the ground.
By the stove lay three beasts, a hen, a cock, and a brindled cow. The
girl told the old man her story, and asked for a night's lodging.
The man said:
Pretty cock, Pretty hen, And you, pretty brindled cow, What do you say
now?
'Duks,' answered the beasts; and that must have meant, 'We are quite
willing,' for the old man went on, 'Here is abundance; go into the back
kitchen and cook us a supper.'
The girl found plenty of everything in the kitchen, and cooked a good
meal, but she did not think of the beasts.
She placed the full dishes on the table, sat down opposite the
gray-haired man, and ate till her hunger was appeased.
When she was satisfied, she said, 'But now I am so tired, where is a bed
in which I can sleep? '
The beasts answered:
You have eaten with him, You have drunk with him, Of us you have
not thought, Sleep then as you ought!
Then the old man said, 'Go upstairs, and there you will find a bedroom;
shake the bed, and put clean sheets on, and go to sleep.'
The maiden went upstairs, and when she had made the bed, she lay
down.
After some time the gray-haired man came, looked at her by the light of
his candle, and shook his head. And when he saw that she was sound
asleep, he opened a trapdoor and let her fall into the cellar.
The woodcutter came home late in the evening, and reproached his
wife for leaving him all day without food.

'No, I did not,' she answered; 'the girl went off with your dinner. She
must have lost her way, but will no doubt come back to-morrow.'
But at daybreak the woodcutter started off into the wood, and this time
asked his second daughter to bring his food.
'I will take a bag of lentils,' said he; 'they are larger than millet, and the
girl will see them better and be sure to find her way.'
At midday the maiden took the food, but the lentils had all gone; as on
the previous day, the wood birds had eaten them all.
The maiden wandered about the wood till nightfall, when she came in
the same way to the old man's house, and asked for food and a night's
lodging.
The man with the white hair again asked the beasts:
Pretty cock, Pretty hen, And you, pretty brindled cow, What do you say
now?
The beasts answered, 'Duks,' and everything happened as on the former
day.
The girl cooked a good meal, ate and drank with the old man, and did
not trouble herself about the animals.
And when she asked for a bed, they replied:
You have eaten with him You have drunk with him, Of us you have not
thought, Now sleep as you ought!
And when she was asleep, the old man shook his head over her, and let
her fall into the cellar.
On the third morning the woodcutter said to his wife, 'Send our
youngest child to-day with my dinner. She is always good and obedient,
and will keep to the right path, and not wander away like her sisters,
idle drones!'
But the mother said, 'Must I lose my dearest child too?'
'Do not fear,' he answered; 'she is too clever and intelligent to lose her
way. I will take plenty of peas with me and strew them