from?'

Lineik then told her name and her story. When she had ended the prince
turned angrily to Laufer, and declared that, as a punishment for her
wicked lies, she deserved to die a shameful death.

But Laufer fell at his feet and begged for mercy. It was her mother's
fault, she said: 'It was she, and not I, who passed me off as the
Princess Lineik. The only lie I have ever told you was about the robes,
and I do not deserve death for that.'

She was still on her knees when Prince Sigurd entered the room.
He prayed the Prince of Greece to forgive Laufer, which he did,
on condition that Lineik would consent to marry him. 'Not till my
stepmother is dead,' answered she, 'for she has brought misery to all
that came near her.' Then Laufer told them that Blauvor was not the wife
of a king, but an ogress who had stolen her from a neighbouring palace
and had brought her up as her daughter. And besides being an ogress she
was also a witch, and by her black arts had sunk the ship in which the
father of Sigurd and Lineik had set sail. It was she who had caused
the disappearance of the courtiers, for which no one could account, by
eating them during the night, and she hoped to get rid of all the people
in the country, and then to fill the land with ogres and ogresses like
herself.

So Prince Sigurd and the Prince of Greece collected an army swiftly,
and marched upon the town where Blauvor had her palace. They came so
suddenly that no one knew of it, and if they had, Blauvor had eaten most
of the strong men; and others, fearful of something they could not tell
what, had secretly left the place. Therefore she was easily captured,
and the next day was beheaded in the market-place. Afterwards the two
princes marched back to Greece.

Lineik had no longer any reason for putting off her wedding, and married
the Prince of Greece at the same time that Sigurd married the princess.
And Laufer remained with Lineik as her friend and sister, till they
found a husband for her in a great nobleman; and all three couples lived
happily until they died.

[From Islandische Muhrchen Poestion Wien.]

The Six Hungry Beasts

Once upon a time there lived a man who dwelt with his wife in a little
hut, far away from any neighbours. But they did not mind being alone,
and would have been quite happy, if it had not been for a marten, who
came every night to their poultry yard, and carried off one of their
fowls. The man laid all sorts of traps