sleep.' The King said, 'See if you
can catch it alive, and then fasten it to the cart, and we will take it
with us.' When the huntsmen seized the maiden, she awoke and was
frightened, and cried out to them, 'I am a poor child, forsaken by
father and mother; take pity on me, and let me go with you.' Then they
said to her, 'Many-furred Creature, you can work in the kitchen; come
with us and sweep the ashes together.' So they put her in the cart and
they went back to the palace. There they showed her a tiny room under
the stairs, where no daylight came, and said to her, 'Many-furred
Creature, you can live and sleep here.' Then she was sent into the
kitchen, where she carried wood and water, poked the fire, washed
vegetables, plucked fowls, swept up the ashes, and did all the dirty
work.

So the Many-furred Creature lived for a long time in great poverty. Ah,
beautiful King's daughter, what is going to befall you now?

[Illustration]

It happened once when a great feast was being held in the palace, that
she said to the cook, 'Can I go upstairs for a little bit and look on?
I will stand outside the doors.' The cook replied, 'Yes, you can go up,
but in half-an-hour you must be back here to sweep up the ashes.' Then
she took her little oil-lamp, and went into her little room, drew off
her fur cloak, and washed off the soot from her face and hands, so that
her beauty shone forth, and it was as if one sunbeam after another were
coming out of a black cloud. Then she opened the nut, and took out the
dress as golden as the sun. And when she had done this, she went up to
the feast, and everyone stepped out of her way, for nobody knew her, and
they thought she must be a King's daughter. But the King came towards
her and gave her his hand, and danced with her, thinking to himself, 'My
eyes have never beheld anyone so fair!' When the dance was ended, she
curtseyed to him, and when the King looked round she had disappeared, no
one knew whither. The guards who were standing before the palace were
called and questioned, but no one had seen her.

She had run to her little room and had quickly taken off her dress, made
her face and hands black, put on the fur cloak, and was once more the
Many-furred Creature. When she came into the kitchen and was setting
about her work of sweeping the ashes together, the cook said to her,
'Let that wait till to-morrow, and just cook the King's soup for me; I
want to have a little peep at the company u