, and Little Two-eyes sang the same little song
again:
'Little Three eyes, are you awake?'
but instead of singing as she ought to have done,
'Little Three-eyes, are you asleep?'
she sang, without thinking,
'Little _Two-eyes_, are you asleep?'
She went on singing,
'Little Three-eyes, are you awake? Little _Two-eyes_, are you asleep?'
so that the two eyes of Little Three-eyes fell asleep, but the third,
which was not spoken to in the little rhyme, did not fall asleep. Of
course Little Three-eyes shut that eye also out of cunning, to look as
if she were asleep, but it was blinking and could see everything quite
well.
And when Little Two-eyes thought that Little Three-eyes was sound
asleep, she said her rhyme,
'Little goat, bleat, Little table, appear,'
and ate and drank to her heart's content, and then made the table go
away again, by saying,
'Little goat, bleat, Little table, away.'
But Little Three-eyes had seen everything. Then Little Two-eyes came
to her, and woke her and said, 'Well, Little Three-eyes, have you been
asleep? You watch well! Come, we will go home.' When they reached home,
Little Two-eyes did not eat again, and Little Three-eyes said to the
mother, 'I know now why that proud thing eats nothing. When she says to
the goat in the field,
"Little goat, bleat, Little table, appear,"
a table stands before her, spread with the best food, much better than
we have; and when she has had enough, she says,
"Little goat, bleat, Little table, away,"
and everything disappears again. I saw it all exactly. She made two
of my eyes go to sleep with a little rhyme, but the one in my forehead
remained awake, luckily!'
Then the envious mother cried out, 'Will you fare better than we do? you
shall not have the chance to do so again!' and she fetched a knife, and
killed the goat.
When Little Two-eyes saw this, she went out full of grief, and sat down
in the meadow and wept bitter tears. Then again the wise woman stood
before her, and said, 'Little Two-eyes, what are you crying for?' 'Have
I not reason to cry?' she answered, 'the goat, which when I said the
little rhyme, spread the table so beautifully, my mother has killed, and
now I must suffer hunger and want again.' The wise woman said, 'Little
Two-eyes, I will give you a good piece of advice. Ask your sisters to
give you the heart of the dead goat, and bury it in the earth before the
house-door; that will bring you good luck.' The
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