d long, for first she would look
into the well at her own image and then she would make a wreath of
flowers and put it on her head and look at herself again. After that,
maybe, she would delay to pick berries and eat them. Then she would go
without hurrying along the path, singing to herself.--

'Said when he saw
Me all in blue,
"Who is the maid
The sky must woo?"

'Said when he saw
Me all in green,
"Who is the maid
The grass calls queen?"'

When she would have got back to the hut the fire on the hearth would
have gone out and she would have to light it again and then sweep the
floor clear of the ashes that had blown upon it. After that she would
have little time to do anything else except prepare a meal against
the time when her husband would be back from his hunting.

One morning her husband left his coat down on the bench. "My coat is
torn; sew it for me," he said. Bloom-of-Youth said she would do that.
But she did no more to the coat than take it up and leave it down
again on the bench.

The next day her husband said "My vest is torn too; have it and the
coat sewn for me." He left the vest beside the coat and went out to
his hunting.

Bloom-of-Youth did nothing to the coat and nothing to the vest, and
every day for a week her husband went out without coat or vest upon
him.

One day he put on his torn coat and his torn vest and went out to his
hunting. When he came home that evening he had a bundle of wool with
him.

"Your step-mother," said he, "sends you this bundle of wool and she
bids you spin it that there may be cloth for new clothes for me." "I
will spin it," said Bloom-of-Youth.

But the next day when her husband went away she did what she had
always done before. She went to the well and she looked for long at
her image; she put a wreath of flowers on her head and she looked at
her image again; she picked berries and ate them; she went along the
path without hurrying, singing to herself.--

'Said when he saw
Me all in blue
"Who is the maid
The sky must woo?"

'Said when he saw
Me all in green
"Who is the maid
The grass calls queen?"'

She had to light the fire again when she came in and sweep away the
ashes that had gathered on the floor and after she had done all that
it was time to prepare the meal for the evening. But before her
husband came home she took the spinning wheel out of the corner and
put it near the light