dresses--of the sun, the moon, and the stars--up in a nutshell, and
wrapped herself up in the mantle made of all sorts of fur, and besmeared
her face and hands with soot. Then she threw herself upon Heaven for
help in her need, and went away, and journeyed on the whole night, till
at last she came to a large wood. As she was very tired, she sat herself
down in the hollow of a tree and soon fell asleep: and there she slept
on till it was midday.
Now as the king to whom the wood belonged was hunting in it, his dogs
came to the tree, and began to snuff about, and run round and round, and
bark. 'Look sharp!' said the king to the huntsmen, 'and see what sort
of game lies there.' And the huntsmen went up to the tree, and when they
came back again said, 'In the hollow tree there lies a most wonderful
beast, such as we never saw before; its skin seems to be of a thousand
kinds of fur, but there it lies fast asleep.' 'See,' said the king, 'if
you can catch it alive, and we will take it with us.' So the huntsmen
took it up, and the maiden awoke and was greatly frightened, and said,
Page annotations:
Add a page annotation: