vant, a poor maid who would gladly be engaged. But
she knew that the Prince whom she had freed from the iron stove in the
great wood was in the castle. So she was taken on as a kitchenmaid for
very small wages. Now the Prince was about to marry another princess,
for he thought she was dead long ago.

[Illustration: 'Then She Reached the Three Cutting Swords, and Got On
Her Plough-wheel and Rolled Over Them']

In the evening, when she had washed up and was ready, she felt in her
pocket and found the three nuts which the old toad had given her. She
cracked one and was going to eat the kernel, when behold! there was a
beautiful royal dress inside it! When the bride heard of this, she
came and begged for the dress, and wanted to buy it, saying that it
was not a dress for a serving-maid. Then she said she would not sell
it unless she was granted one favour--namely, to sleep by the Prince's
door. The bride granted her this, because the dress was so beautiful
and she had so few like it. When it was evening she said to her
bridegroom, 'That stupid maid wants to sleep by your door.'

'If you are contented, I am,' he said. But she gave him a glass of
wine in which she had poured a sleeping-draught. Then they both went
to his room, but he slept so soundly that she could not wake him. The
maid wept all night long, and said, 'I freed you in the wild wood out
of the iron stove; I have sought you, and have crossed a glassy
mountain, three sharp swords, and a great lake before I found you, and
will you not hear me now?' The servants outside heard how she cried
the whole night, and they told their master in the morning.

When she had washed up the next evening she bit the second nut, and
there was a still more beautiful dress inside. When the bride saw it
she wanted to buy it also. But the maid did not want money, and asked
that she should sleep again by the Prince's door. The bride, however,
gave him a sleeping-draught, and he slept so soundly that he heard
nothing. But the kitchenmaid wept the whole night long, and said, 'I
have freed you in a wood and from an iron stove; I sought you and have
crossed a glassy mountain, three sharp swords, and a great lake to
find you, and now you will not hear me!' The servants outside heard
how she cried the whole night, and in the morning they told their
master. And when she had washed up on the third night she bit the
third nut, and there was a still more beautiful dress inside that was
made o