e is asleep,
Only one woman's awake,
And she's boiling my flesh,
Sitting on my skin,
And spinning my wool!"

[Illustration]

And the peasant's wife got very frightened, and hid as quick as she
could in the cellar under the floor. And Bruin went into the house, and
saw there was no one there. So he took his bit of skin, got his flesh
out of the pot and made off.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: May I?]

THE BEAR AND THE OLD MAN'S DAUGHTERS.

There was once an old man and he had three little daughters, and one day
he said to them: "I am going out into the fields to plough, and you, my
little daughters, bake me a loaf and bring it to me." "But how are we to
find you, daddy?" they said.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

"As I go along," he said, "I shall drop shavings in a row along the
path, and that will help you to find me." And as the old man rode along
he threw down the shavings one after the other, and a bear came and
drew them all aside on to the path that led to his den.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Then the eldest daughter said to the youngest: "Go and take the bread to
daddy." And the youngest said: "But how am I to find daddy, and where am
I to take the bread to?" Then the eldest answered: "He kept dropping
shavings in a row along the path as he went." Then she took the loaf,
and started off to follow the shavings, when lo and behold! she came to
the bear's den.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

And the bear saw her and said: "O-ho! What a nice little girl has come
to see me!"

[Illustration]

The next day the old man went off to sow, and he said to his daughters:
"My dear little daughters, my clever little ones, bake me a loaf and
bring it to me in the field." "But how are we to find you, daddy?" they
said. And he answered: "Yesterday I threw one row of shavings down,
to-day I will throw two." And he set off, throwing the shavings down in
two rows, and the bear came and drew them all aside on to the path that
led to his den. Then the second daughter started out with the loaf,
following the shavings, and went straight to the bear's den. And the
bear saw her and said: "O-ho! here's another little girl come to see
me!"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The next day the old man went off to the field to harrow, and he said to
his daughter: "My dear little daughter, bake me a loaf and bring it to
me in the field. I will throw three rows of shavings." And the old man
we