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210 GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES.
He answered,
11 Oh, it is King Thrushbeard's, and might have been thine." And she cried,
" I was a silly young thing, I'm afeared, Would I had taken that good King Thrushbeard! "
Then said the beggar-man,
" It does not please me to hear you always wishing fo: another husband; am I not good enough for you ? "
At last they came to a very small house, and she said,
'' Oh dear me ! what poor little house do I see ? And whose, I would know, may the wretched hole be ? "
The man answered,
"That is my house and thine, where we must livi together."
She had to stoop before she could go in at the door.
" Where are the servants ? " asked the king's daughter.
" What servants ? " answered the beggar-man, " what yoi want to have done you must do yourself. Make a fire quick. and put on water, and cook me some food; I am very tired."
But the king's daughter understood nothing about fire making and cooking, and the beggar-man had to lend a hand himself in order to manage it at all. And when they had eaten their poor fare, they went to bed; but the man called up his wife very early in the morning, in order to clean the house. For a few days they lived in this indifferent manner, until they came to the end of their store.
"Wife," said the man, "this will not do, stopping here and earning nothing; you must make baskets."
So he went out and cut willows, and brought them home; and she began to weave them, but the hard twigs wounded her tender hands.
" I see this will not do," said the man, " you had better try spinning."
So she sat her down and tried to spin, but the harsh thread cut her soft fingers, so that the blood flowed.
" Look now!" said the man, " you are no good at any sort of work; I made a bad bargain when I took you. I must see |
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