ream a third time, and betook
herself once more to the old witch's hut in the flowery meadow. This
time the old woman told her to go the next full moon to the mill-pond,
and to spin there with a golden spinning-wheel, and then to leave the
spinning-wheel on the bank.

The hunter's wife did as she was advised, and the first night the moon
was full she sat and spun with a golden spinning-wheel, and then left
the wheel on the bank. In a few minutes a rushing sound was heard in
the waters, and a wave swept the spinning-wheel from the bank.
Immediately the head of the hunter rose up from the pond, getting
higher and higher each moment, till at length he stepped on to the
bank and fell on his wife's neck.

But the waters of the pond rose up suddenly, overflowed the bank where
the couple stood, and dragged them under the flood. In her despair the
young wife called on the old witch to help her, and in a moment the
hunter was turned into a frog and his wife into a toad. But they were
not able to remain together, for the water tore them apart, and when
the flood was over they both resumed their own shapes again, but the
hunter and the hunter's wife found themselves each in a strange
country, and neither knew what had become of the other.

[Illustration: 'A Wave Swept the Spinning-wheel from the Bank']

The hunter determined to become a shepherd, and his wife too became a
shepherdess. So they herded their sheep for many years in solitude and
sadness.

Now it happened once that the shepherd came to the country where the
shepherdess lived. The neighbourhood pleased him, and he saw that the
pasture was rich and suitable for his flocks. So he brought his sheep
there, and herded them as before. The shepherd and shepherdess became
great friends, but they did not recognise each other in the least.

But one evening when the moon was full they sat together watching
their flocks, and the shepherd played upon his flute. Then the
shepherdess thought of that evening when she had sat at the full moon
by the mill-pond and had played on the golden flute; the recollection
was too much for her, and she burst into tears. The shepherd asked her
why she was crying, and left her no peace till she told him all her
story. Then the scales fell from the shepherd's eyes, and he
recognised his wife, and she him. So they returned joyfully to their
own home, and lived in peace and happiness ever after.

THE GLASS MOUNTAIN[16]

Once upon a tim