ess, "Ass come past, tub fell down at the
well, and all was broken in pieces." The poor mistress, on hearing
this, could contain herself no longer, and seizing a broomstick she
beat the slave so soundly that she felt it for many days; then giving
her a leather bag, she said, "Run, break your neck, you wretched slave,
you grasshopper-legs, you black beetle! Run and fetch me this bag full
of water, or else I'll hang you like a dog, and give you a good
thrashing."

Away ran the slave heels over head, for she had seen the flash and
dreaded the thunder; and while she was filling the leather bag, she
turned to look again at the beautiful image, and said, "Me fool to
fetch water! better live by one's wits; such a pretty girl indeed to
serve a bad mistress!" So saying, she took a large pin which she wore
in her hair, and began to pick holes in the leather bag, which looked
like an open place in a garden with the rose of a watering-pot making a
hundred little fountains. When the fairy saw this she laughed outright;
and the slave hearing her, turned and espied her hiding-place up in the
tree; whereat she said to herself, "O ho! you make me be beaten? but
never mind!" Then she said to her, "What you doing up there, pretty
lass?" And the fairy, who was the very mother of courtesy, told her all
she knew, and all that had passed with the Prince, whom she was
expecting from hour to hour and from moment to moment, with fine
dresses and servants, to take her with him to his father's kingdom
where they would live happy together.

When the slave, who was full of spite, heard this, she thought to
herself that she would get this prize into her own hands; so she
answered the fairy, "You expect your husband,--me come up and comb your
locks, and make you more smart." And the fairy said, "Ay, welcome as
the first of May!" So the slave climbed up the tree, and the fairy held
out her white hand to her, which looked in the black paws of the slave
like a crystal mirror in a frame of ebony. But no sooner did the slave
begin to comb the fairy's locks, than she suddenly stuck a hairpin into
her head. Then the fairy, feeling herself pricked, cried out, "Dove,
dove!" and instantly she became a dove and flew away; whereupon the
slave stripped herself, and making a bundle of all the rags that she
had worn, she threw them a mile away; and there she sat, up in the
tree, looking like a statue of jet in a house of emerald.

In a short time the Prince retur