book. Both the roses and the book of Psalms only
spoke the truth.

She was to go home when she was fifteen, but when the queen saw how
pretty she was she got very angry, and her heart was filled with
hatred. She would willingly have turned her into a wild swan too, like
her brothers, but she did not dare to do it at once, for the king
wanted to see his daughter. The queen always went to the bath in the
early morning. It was built of marble, and adorned with soft cushions
and beautiful carpets.

She took three toads, kissed them, and said to the first: "Sit upon
Elise's head when she comes to the bath, so that she may become
sluggish like yourself." "Sit upon her forehead," she said to the
second, "that she may become ugly like you, and then her father won't
know her! Rest upon her heart," she whispered to the third. "Let an
evil spirit come over her, which may be a burden to her." Then she put
the toads into the clean water, and a green tinge immediately came
over it. She called Elise, undressed her, and made her go into the
bath; when she ducked under the water, one of the toads got among her
hair, the other got onto her forehead, and the third onto her bosom.
But when she stood up three scarlet poppies floated on the water; had
not the creatures been poisonous, and kissed by the sorceress, they
would have been changed into crimson roses, but yet they became
flowers from merely having rested a moment on her head and her heart.
She was far too good and innocent for the sorcery to have any power
over her. When the wicked queen saw this she rubbed her over with
walnut juice, and smeared her face with some evil-smelling salve. She
also matted up her beautiful hair; it would have been impossible to
recognize pretty Elise. When her father saw her, he was quite
horrified, and said that she could not be his daughter. Nobody would
have anything to say to her, except the yard dog and the swallows, and
they were only poor dumb animals whose opinion went for nothing.

Poor Elise wept, and thought of her eleven brothers who were all lost.
She crept sadly out of the palace and wandered about all day, over
meadows and marshes, and into a big forest. She did not know in the
least where she wanted to go, but she felt very sad, and longed for
her brothers, who, no doubt, like herself had been driven out of the
palace. She made up her mind to go and look for them, but she had only
been in the wood for a short time when night fell. She