ow-tree, and
threw her flax down beside her, and began weeping with all her might.
But the heifer came up to her and said, "Tell me, little maiden,
wherefore dost thou weep?"--"Why should I not weep?" said she, and she
told the heifer all about it.--"Grieve not!" said the heifer, "it
will all come right, but lie down to sleep."--So she lay down and
immediately fell asleep. And by evening the bundle of raw flax was
heckled and spun and reeled, and the cloth was woven and bleached, so
that one could have made shirts of it straight off. Then she drove the
heifer home, and gave the cloth to her stepmother.

[Illustration: THE GIRL DROVE THE HEIFER OUT TO GRAZE]

Then the old woman said to herself, "How comes it that this daughter
of the son of a dog has done all her task so easily? The heifer must
have got it done for her, I know. But I'll put a stop to all this,
thou daughter of the son of a dog," said she. Then she went to the old
man and said, "Father, kill and cut to pieces this heifer of thine,
for because of it thy daughter does not a stroke of work. She drives
the heifer out to graze, and goes to sleep the whole day and does
nothing."--"Then I'll kill it!" said he.--But the old man's daughter
heard what he said, and went into the garden and began to weep
bitterly. The heifer came to her and said, "Tell me, dear little
maiden, wherefore dost thou weep?"--"Why should I _not_ weep," she
said, "when they want to kill thee?"--"Don't grieve," said the heifer,
"it will all come right. When they have killed me, ask thy stepmother
to give thee my entrails to wash, and in them thou wilt find a grain
of corn. Plant this grain of corn, and out of it will grow up a
willow-tree, and whatever thou dost want, go to this willow-tree and
ask, and thou shalt have thy heart's desire."

Then her father slew the heifer, and she went to her stepmother and
said, "Prythee, let me have the entrails of the heifer to wash!"--And
her stepmother answered, "As if I would let anybody else do such work
but thee!"--Then she went and washed them, and sure enough she found
the grain of corn, planted it by the porch, trod down the earth, and
watered it a little. And the next morning, when she awoke, she saw
that a willow-tree had sprung out of this grain of corn, and beneath
the willow-tree was a spring of water, and no better water was to be
found anywhere in the whole village. It was as cold and as clear as
ice.

When Sunday came round, the old w