"Let us hasten back to the castle, now," said the Wolf, "that we may
tell the Princes and their brides and the Princess in the castle that
the Giant is dead, and they have nothing more to fear."

Then the Wolf lifted up his voice and howled, and at once two other
wolves stood beside them. "Climb up, each one of you," said the first
Wolf, "and we will be back at the castle in no time."

So Boots and the two Princes climbed up each on the back of a wolf, and
they were soon back at the castle; and Boots found his brothers, and
their fair brides, and the Princess waiting for them. Then they all set
out for the kingdom of their father, who was very glad to see them, to
be sure. And Boots said: "I have brought back your sons to you, but I
have brought back the fairest Princess in the seven kingdoms to be my
own bride."

Although the brides of the other Princes were very fair, yet all agreed
that the bride of Boots was the most beautiful of all.

VIGGO AND BEATE[L]

_Translated by Mrs. Gudrun Thorne-Thompson_

THE DOLL UNDER THE BRIER ROSEBUSH

There was once a girl, and her name was Beate. On her birthday her
father had given her a beautiful straw hat. Her mother had given her a
pair of yellow shoes and the daintiest white dress. But her old aunt had
given her the very best present of all; it was a doll, with a sweet face
and dark brown curls.

Oh, how Beate grew to love that doll, almost more than she loved Marie
and Louise, and they were her best friends.

One day Beate was walking in the yard with her doll in her arms. It had
a name now, and they had become fast friends. She had called her Beate,
her own name, and the name of her old aunt who had given her the
present.

It was in the early Spring. There was a green spot in one corner of the
yard around the old well. There stood a big willow tree with a low
trunk, and it was covered with the little yellow blossoms that children
call "goslings."

They look like goslings, too, for each little tassel has soft yellow
down, and they can swim in the water.

Now, Big Beate and Little Beate soon agreed that they would pick
goslings from the tree and throw them into the well, so that these
might have just as good a time as the big geese and goslings that were
swimming about in the pond. It was really Big Beate who thought of this
first, but Little Beate agreed immediately; you can't imagine how good
she always was.

Now, Big Beate climbed up into the willow