' he answered; 'I have brought two heads with me, and will
give you one.'

So saying, he opened his sack and gave her the bad one. The witch
suspected no evil, and her mouth watered to taste the new dish, so
that she went into the kitchen to prepare it herself. When it was
ready she could not wait till it was served at the table, but she
immediately took a couple of leaves and put them in her mouth. No
sooner, however, had she swallowed them than she lost human form, and
ran into the courtyard in the shape of a donkey.

Now the servant came into the kitchen, and when she saw the salad
standing there ready cooked she was about to carry it up, but on the
way, according to her old habit, she tasted it and ate a couple of
leaves. Immediately the charm worked, and she became a donkey, and ran
out to join the old witch, and the dish with the salad in it fell to
the ground. In the meantime, the messenger was sitting with the lovely
maiden, and as no one came with the salad, and she wanted very much to
taste it, she said, 'I don't know where the salad is.'

Then thought the Hunter, 'The cabbage must have already begun to
work.' And he said, 'I will go to the kitchen and fetch it myself.'

When he came there he saw the two donkeys running about in the
courtyard, but the salad was lying on the ground.

'That's all right,' said he; 'two have had their share!' And lifting
the remaining leaves up, he laid them on the dish and brought them to
the maiden.

'I am bringing you the delicious food my own self,' he said, 'so that
you need not wait any longer.'

Then she ate, and, as the others had done, she at once lost her human
form, and ran as a donkey into the yard.

When the Hunter had washed his face, so that the changed ones might
know him, he went into the yard, saying, 'Now you shall receive a
reward for your faithlessness.'

He tied them all three with a rope, and drove them away till he came
to a mill. He knocked at the window, and the miller put his head out
and asked what he wanted.

'I have three tiresome animals,' he answered, 'which I don't want to
keep any longer. If you will take them, give them food and stabling,
and do as I tell you with them, I will pay you as much as you want.'

[Illustration: The Young Man Gives the Donkeys to the Miller]

The miller replied, 'Why not? What shall I do with them?'

Then the Hunter said that to the old donkey, which was the witch,
three beatings and one meal; to the you