le son and killed him too, put on the woman's
clothes, and laid the child's bones, which he had not yet devoured, in
her basket. After that he went to the woman's home, where her two
daughters were, and called in at the door: "Open the door, daughters!
Mother has come home!" But they looked out through a crack and said:
"Our mother's eyes are not so large as yours!"

Then the panther said: "I have been to grandmother's house, and saw
her hens laying eggs. That pleases me, and is the reason why my eyes
have grown so large."

"Our mother had no spots in her face such as you have."

"Grandmother had no spare bed, so I had to sleep on the peas, and they
pressed themselves into my face."

"Our mother's feet are not so large as yours."

"Stupid things! That comes from walking such a distance. Come, open
the door quickly!"

Then the daughters said to each other: "It must be our mother," and
they opened the door. But when the panther came in, they saw it was
not really their mother after all.

At evening, when the daughters were already in bed, the panther was
still gnawing the bones he had brought with him.

Then the daughters asked: "Mother, what are you eating?"

"I'm eating beets," was the answer.

Then the daughters said: "Oh, mother, give us some of your beets,
too! We are so hungry!"

"No," was the reply, "I will not give you any. Now be quiet and go to
sleep."

But the daughters kept on begging until the false mother gave them a
little finger. And then they saw that it was their little brother's
finger, and they said to each other: "We must make haste to escape
else he will eat us as well." And with that they ran out of the door,
climbed up into a tree in the yard, and called down to the false
mother: "Come out! We can see our neighbor's son celebrating his
wedding!" But it was the middle of the night.

Then the mother came out, and when she saw that they were sitting in
the tree, she called out angrily: "Why, I'm not able to climb!"

The daughters said: "Get into a basket and throw us the rope and we
will draw you up!"

The mother did as they said. But when the basket was half-way up, they
began to swing it back and forth, and bump it against the tree. Then
the false mother had to turn into a panther again, lest she fall down.
And the panther leaped out of the basket, and ran away.

Gradually daylight came. The daughters climbed down, seated themselves
on the doorstep, and cried for their mother. A