they were about to have the infant
baptized the father said to the young mother:

"Hearken to what I have to say. I was condemned to suffer the horrible
enchantment you know of until such time as a child should be born to
me, and I shall be immediately delivered from the curse whenever this
infant is baptized. But take care that you do not speak a word until
the baptismal bells cease to sound, for if you utter a syllable, even
to your mother, I shall disappear on the instant and you will never
see me more."

Full of the resolve not to utter a single sound, the young mother, who
lay in bed, kept silent, until at last she heard the sound of bells,
when, in her joy, forgetting the warning, she turned to her mother,
who sat near, with words of congratulation on her lips. A few moments
afterward her husband rushed into the room, the horse's head still
upon his shoulders. He was covered with sweat, and panted fiercely.

"Ah, miserable woman," he cried, "what have you done? I must leave
you, and you shall never see me more!" and he made as if to quit the
room. His wife rose from her bed, and strove to detain him, but he
struck at her with his fist. The blood trickled out and made three
spots on his shirt.

"Behold these spots," cried the young wife; "they shall never
disappear until I find you."

"And I swear to you," cried her husband, "that you will never find me
until you have worn out three pairs of iron shoes in doing so."

With these words he ran off at such speed that the poor wife could not
follow him, and, fainting, she sank to the ground.

Some time after her husband had left her the young wife had three
pairs of iron shoes made and went in search of him. After she had
travelled about the world for nearly ten years the last pair of shoes
began to show signs of wear, when she found herself one day at a
castle where the servants were hanging out the clothes to dry, and she
heard one of the laundresses say:

"Do you see this shirt? I declare it is enchanted, for although I have
washed it again and again I cannot rub out these three spots of blood
which you see upon it."

When the wanderer heard this she approached the laundress and said to
her: "Let me try, I pray you. I think I can wash the shirt clean."

They gave her the shirt, she washed it, and the spots disappeared. So
grateful was the laundress that she bade the stranger go to the castle
and ask for a meal and a bed. These were willingly granted her,