go home for a few days, I'd
be glad.' 'Very well,' said he, 'I will do that, and whenever you feel
inclined to return, only mention your wish when you lie down at night.'
The next morning when she awoke she found herself in her own old chamber
in her father's palace. She rang the bell, and in a short time she had
her mother and father and married sisters about her, and they laughed
till they cried for joy at finding her safe back again.

[Illustration: The Princess loses her first Baby]

In time she told them all that happened to her, and they didn't know
what to advise her to do. She was as fond of her husband as ever, and
said she was sure that he couldn't help letting the children go; but
still she was afraid beyond the world to have another child torn from
her. Well, the mother and sisters consulted a wise woman that used to
bring eggs to the castle, for they had great faith in her wisdom. She
said the only plan was to secure the bear's skin that the prince was
obliged to put on every morning, and get it burned, and then he couldn't
help being a man night and day, and the enchantment would be at an end.

So they all persuaded her to do that, and she promised she would; and
after eight days she felt so great a longing to see her husband again
that she made the wish the same night, and when she woke three hours
after, she was in her husband's palace, and he himself was watching over
her. There was great joy on both sides, and they were happy for many
days.

Now she began to think how she never minded her husband leaving her in
the morning, and how she never found him neglecting to give her a sweet
drink out of a gold cup just as she was going to bed.

One night she contrived not to drink any of it, though she pretended to
do so; and she was wakeful enough in the morning, and saw her husband
passing out through a panel in the wainscot, though she kept her eyelids
nearly closed. The next night she got a few drops of the sleepy posset
that she saved the evening before put into her husband's night drink,
and that made him sleep sound enough. She got up after midnight, passed
through the panel, and found a beautiful brown bear's hide hanging in
the corner. Then she stole back, and went down to the parlour fire, and
put the hide into the middle of it till it was all fine ashes. She then
lay down by her husband, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and fell asleep.

If she was to live a hundred years she'd never forget how she