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me go out to the chase, I can stay no longer." And he begged so hard, that she at last agreed to let him go. But," said she, "be sure to return in the evening; I shall fasten the door to keep out those wild huntsmen; and to let me know that it is you when you are at the door, you must say, 'Sister, let me in;' but if you don't speak, I shall keep the door fast." Then away sprang the fawn, and seemed so happy to be in the open air. The king and his huntsmen saw the beautiful creature, and gave chase to him, but could not overtake him; for when they thought they were sure to catch him, he sprung over the bushes and was out of sight in

a moment.

As it grew dark he came bounding home to the hut, and tapped, and said, "Sister, sister, let me in." Then she opened the little door, and in he jumped, and slept soundly all night on his soft bed.

Next morning the hunt began again; and when he heard the huntsmen's horns and cheering cries, he had no rest, and said, "Sister, open the door for me, I must go again." Then she let him out, and said, "Be sure to come back in the evening, and remember what you are to say." When the king and the huntsmen saw the fawn with the golden collar again, they gave him chase; but he was too fleet for them. The chase lasted the whole day; but at last the huntsmen nearly surrounded him, and one of them slightly wounded him in the foot, so that he limped and got on but slowly. The man who had wounded him followed him secretly to the cot, and hid himself, and heard him say, "Sister, sister, let me in:" and saw the door opened and instantly shut again. The huntsman took good notice of every thing, and went to the

king and told him what he had seen and heard; then the king said, "To-morrow we will have another chase."

Grettel was very much frightened when she saw that her fawn was wounded; but she washed the blood away and put some healing herbs on it, and said, "Now go to bed, dear fawn, until you are well again." The wound was so small, that in the morning it was quite closed up; and when the hunting-horn blew, he said, “I can't stay here, I must go and look on; I will take care that none of them shall catch me." But Grettel wept and said, "I am sure they will kill you this time, I will not let you go."-" I shall die of vexation," said he, "if you keep me here; when I hear the horns, I feel as if I could fly." Then Grettel could refuse no longer; so she opened the door with a heavy heart, and he bounded out gaily into the wood.

When the king saw him, he said to his huntsman, “Now chase him all day long till you catch him; but let none of you do him any harm." When the sun went down, the king said to the one who had watched, "Now come and show me the little hut." So they went to the door and the king tapped, and said, "Sister, sister, let me in." Then the door opened and the king went in, and saw a maiden standing there more lovely than any he had ever beheld. Grettel was frightened to see a king with a golden crown, and not her fawn, come into her hut but he spoke kindly to her, and took her hand, and said, "Will you come with me to my palace, and be my queen?"-"Yes," said the maiden; "but my fawn must go with me, I cannot part with him.”—“ Well,” said the king, " he shall stop with you all your life, and want for nothing.” Just at that moment in sprung the little fawn: and his sister

tied the string to his neck, and they left the hut in the wood together.

Then the king took Grettel to his palace, and held the wedding in great state, and made her his queen. And she told the king all her story; and he sent for the wicked fairy and punished her: and the fawn was changed into Hansel again, and he and his sister loved one another, and they lived together happily for many years.

THE GOLDEN BIRD.

A CERTAIN king had a pleasuregarden, and in the garden stood a tree which bore golden apples. When they were ripe, it was found that every night one of them was gone, so that the king became very angry, and ordered the gardener to keep watch all night under the tree. The gardener set his eldest son to watch; but about twelve o'clock he fell asleep, and in the morning another apple was missing. Then the second son was ordered to watch the next night; but at midnight he too fell asleep, and in the morning another apple was gone. Then the third son offered to keep watch; but the gardener at

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first would not let him: however, at last he consented, and the young man laid himself under the tree, keeping watch very carefully; and as the clock struck twelve he heard a rustling sound in the air, and a bird came flying that was of pure gold; and as it was snapping at one of the apples with its beak, the gardener's son started up and quickly shot an arrow at it. But the arrow did the bird no harm; except shooting a golden feather from its tail, and then it flew away. The golden feather was then brought to the king in the morning, who immediately called a privy council. It was unanimously agreed that, as the one feather was so valuable, the bird itself must be worth the whole kingdom. So the king said, "I must and will have the whole bird."

The gardener's eldest son then set out and thought to find the golden bird very soon; and when he had travelled but a little way, he came to a wood, and by the side of the wood he saw a fox sitting; so he took his bow and was about to shoot it, when the fox said, "Do not shoot me, and I will give you some good advice; I know what you are travelling about, and that you want to find the golden bird. When you come this evening to a village, you will see two inns opposite to each other, at one of which there is great merriment going on; go not in there, but rest for the night in the other, though it may appear to you to be very poor and mean-looking." But the son thought to himself, "What can a beast know about the matter?" So he fired off his bow at the fox, but missed it, and it set up its tail above its back and ran swiftly into the wood. Then he continued his journey, and in the evening came to the village where the two inns were; and in one of these were people singing and dancing; but the other looked

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very dirty and miserable. "I should be a great fool," said he, "if I went to that shabby ale-house, and left this fine place; so he went into the merry house, and lived in jollity and riot, and forgot the bird, and his native country.

Time passed away; and as the eldest son did not return, the second son set out, and the same things happened to him as befel his brother. The fox was as ready as ever with his good advice; but when the second son came to the two inns, his eldest brother was standing at the window where the merry-making was, and called him in; so that he could not resist the temptation, but went in, and gave himself up to the pleasures of the place.

Time passed on again, and the youngest son too wished to set out into the wide world to seek for the golden bird; but his father would not hear of it for a long time, for he loved his son very much, and was afraid that some misfortune might happen to him also, and prevent his return. However, at last it was agreed he should go, as there was now no more peace at home; and as he came to the wood, he met the fox, and received the same good counsel. But he was civil to the fox, and did not attempt to shoot him as his brothers had done; so the fox said, "Sit upon my tail, and you will travel faster." So he sat down, and the fox set off so quickly over stock and stone, that their hair whistled in the wind.

When they came to the village, the son followed the fox's advice, and without looking about him went to the poor inn, and rested there all night quite comfortably. Next morning the fox met him as he was commencing his journey, and said, "Go straight forward till you come to a castle, before which a whole regiment of soldiers are lying fast asleep and snoring:

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