!' As she said these words, a spark from the
big wood fire flew into the woman's lap, and she said with a laugh, 'Now
perhaps I shall give birth to a Fire-son!' The man laughed at his wife's
words, and thought it was a good joke. But he ceased to think it a
joke when his wife shortly afterwards gave birth to a boy, who screamed
lustily till he was put quite close to the fire, and who nearly yelled
himself into a fit if the Snow-daughter came anywhere near him. The
Snow-daughter herself avoided him as much as she could, and always crept
into a corner as far away from him as possible. The parents called the
boy simply 'Our Fire-son,' a name which stuck to him all his life. They
had a great deal of trouble and worry with him too; but he throve and
grew very quickly, and before he was a year old he could run about and
talk. He was as red as fire, and as hot to touch, and he always sat on
the hearth quite close to the fire, and complained of the cold; if his
sister were in the room he almost crept into the flames, while the girl
on her part always complained of the great heat if her brother were
anywhere near. In summer the boy always lay out in the sun, while the
girl hid herself in the cellar: so it happened that the brother and
sister came very little into contact with each other--in fact, they
carefully avoided it.

Just as the girl grew up into a beautiful woman, her father and mother
both died one after the other. Then the Fire-son, who had grown up in
the meantime into a fine, strong young man, said to his sister, 'I am
going out into the world, for what is the use of remaining on here?'

'I shall go with you,' she answered, 'for, except you, I have no one in
the world, and I have a feeling that if we set out together we shall be
lucky.'

The Fire-son said, 'I love you with all my heart, but at the same time
I always freeze if you are near me, and you nearly die of heat if I
approach you! How shall we travel about together without being odious
the one to the other?'

'Don't worry about that,' replied the girl, 'for I've thought it all
over, and have settled on a plan which will make us each able to bear
with the other! See, I have had a fur cloak made for each of us, and if
we put them on I shall not feel the heat so much nor you the cold.' So
they put on the fur cloaks, and set out cheerfully on their way, and for
the first time in their lives quite happy in each other's company.

For a long time the Fire-son an