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In the end, however, they caught her: and the wife said, 'Shall I

kill her at once?' 'No,' cried he, 'that is letting her off too

easily: she shall die a much more cruel death; I will eat her.'

But the sparrow began to flutter about, and stretch out her neck

and cried, 'Carter! it shall cost thee thy life yet!' With that

he could wait no longer: so he gave his wife the hatchet, and

cried, 'Wife, strike at the bird and kill her in my hand.' And

the wife struck; but she missed her aim, and hit her husband on

the head so that he fell down dead, and the sparrow flew quietly

home to her nest.

THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES

There was a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. They slept

in twelve beds all in one room; and when they went to bed, the

doors were shut and locked up; but every morning their shoes were

found to be quite worn through as if they had been danced in all

night; and yet nobody could find out how it happened, or where

they had been.