me she wanted to go home, but the prince said he
would go with her to take care of her, for he wanted to see where the
beautiful maiden lived. But she escaped him, and jumped up into the
pigeon-house. Then the prince waited until the father came, and told him
the strange maiden had jumped into the pigeon-house. The father thought
to himself,

"It cannot surely be Aschenputtel," and called for axes and hatchets,
and had the pigeon-house cut down, but there was no one in it. And when
they entered the house there sat Aschenputtel in her dirty clothes among
the cinders, and a little oil-lamp burnt dimly in the chimney; for
Aschenputtel had been very quick, and had jumped out of the pigeon-house
again, and had run to the hazel bush; and there she had taken off her
beautiful dress and had laid it on the grave, and the bird had carried
it away again, and then she had put on her little gray kirtle again, and
had sat down in the kitchen among the cinders.

The next day, when the festival began anew, and the parents and
step-sisters had gone to it, Aschenputtel went to the hazel bush and
cried,

"Little tree, little tree, shake over me,
That silver and gold may come down and cover me."

Then the bird cast down a still more splendid dress than on the day
before. And when she appeared in it among the guests every one was
astonished at her beauty. The prince had been waiting until she came,
and he took her hand and danced with her alone. And when any one else
came to invite her he said,

"She is my partner."

And when the evening came she wanted to go home, and the prince followed
her, for he wanted to see to what house she belonged; but she broke away
from him, and ran into the garden at the back of the house. There stood
a fine large tree, bearing splendid pears; she leapt as lightly as a
squirrel among the branches, and the prince did not know what had become
of her. So he waited until the father came, and then he told him that
the strange maiden had rushed from him, and that he thought she had gone
up into the pear-tree. The father thought to himself,

"It cannot surely be Aschenputtel," and called for an axe, and felled
the tree, but there was no one in it. And when they went into the
kitchen there sat Aschenputtel among the cinders, as usual, for she had
got down the other side of the tree, and had taken back her beautiful
clothes to the bird on the hazel bush, and had put on her old gray
kirtle again.

On t