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18 FAIRY TELL TRUE. |
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ran away to another part of the palace. But she could not overcome her fear, and her heart beat violently when she found that the gold would not come off her finger, although she rubbed and washed it with all her might
Not very long after this the good fairy returned home, and calling the maiden to her, requested her to give up the keys of the palace.
As she placed them in the fairy's hand, she looked earnestly into the young girl's eyes, and said, " Have you opened the thirteenth door?"
" No," was the reply.
The good fairy laid her hand on the young girl's heart, and knew by its beating, which she felt, that she had been disobeyed, and that the door had been opened. Then she said again, " Have you opened the thirteenth door?"
"No," was the reply for the second time.
Then the fairy caught sight of the maiden's finger which had become golden when she touched the fiery light, and knew by this that she was guilty. For a third time she asked the same question, but the young girl still answered, " No."
Then the good fairy said to the maiden, "You have not attended to my commands, nor spoken the truth; you are therefore not fit to remain with good children in this beautiful palace in the clouds." As the fairy spoke, the maiden fell into a deep sleep, and sunk down upon the earth.
When she awoke, she found herself alone in a great wilderness; and our attempting to cry out, her voice could no longer be heard, for she had been struck dumb. Then she sprang up, and attempted to force her way out of the wilderness, but wherever she turned the thick thorn bushes drove her back, and she could not pass through them. The enclosure in which she now found herself shut in was surrounded by hollow caves, and in one of these she determined to take up her abode; therefore, when night came on, she crept in and slept till morning, and during stormy or rainy weather it formed her only shelter. Her life now was indeed miserable, and whenever she thought of those happy days when she had lived in the beautiful palace, with good children for her companions, she wept bitterly.
Her food consisted of roots and wild berries, which she had to search for, and in autumn she collected all the dry haves, and |
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