w covers everything. And why
should I go in the paper frock? it is so cold out of doors that one's
breath is frozen; the wind will blow through it, and the thorns will
tear it off my back!"

"How dare you contradict me!" cried the step-mother, "be off, and don't
let me see you again till you bring me a basket of strawberries."

Then she gave her a little piece of hard bread, and said,

"That will do for you to eat during the day," and she thought to
herself, "She is sure to be frozen or starved to death out of doors, and
I shall never set eyes on her again."

So the girl went obediently, put on the paper frock, and started out
with the basket. The snow was lying everywhere, far and wide, and there
was not a blade of green to be seen. When she entered the wood she saw a
little house with three little men peeping out of it. She wished them
good day, and knocked modestly at the door. They called her in, and she
came into the room and sat down by the side of the oven to warm herself
and eat her breakfast. The little men said,

"Give us some of it."

"Willingly," answered she, breaking her little piece of bread in two,
and giving them half. They then said,

"What are you doing here in the wood this winter time in your little
thin frock?"

"Oh," answered she, "I have to get a basket of strawberries, and I must
not go home without them."

When she had eaten her bread they gave her a broom, and told her to go
and sweep the snow away from the back door. When she had gone outside to
do it the little men talked among themselves about what they should do
for her, as she was so good and pretty, and had shared her bread with
them. Then the first one said,

"She shall grow prettier every day." The second said,

"Each time she speaks a piece of gold shall fall from her mouth." The
third said,

"A king shall come and take her for his wife."

In the meanwhile the girl was doing as the little men had told her, and
had cleared the snow from the back of the little house, and what do you
suppose she found? fine ripe strawberries, showing dark red against the
snow! Then she joyfully filled her little basket full, thanked the
little men, shook hands with them all, and ran home in haste to bring
her step-mother the thing she longed for. As she went in and said, "Good
evening," a piece of gold fell from her mouth at once. Then she related
all that had happened to her in the wood, and at each word that she
spoke gold pieces fell