ed, the little dove fluttered about, and Snow-white
hid herself behind her mother's bed. However, the bear began to speak,
and said, "Do not be frightened, I will do you no harm; I am half
frozen, and only want to warm myself a little."

"You poor bear," said the mother, "lay yourself down before the fire,
only take care your fur does not burn." Then she called out,
"Snow-white and Rose-red, come out; the bear will not hurt you--he
means honestly by us." Then they both came out, and, by degrees, the
lamb and the dove also approached, and ceased to be afraid. The bear
said, "Children, knock the snow a little out of my fur;" and they
fetched a broom, and swept the bear's skin clean; and he stretched
himself before the fire and growled softly, like a bear that was quite
happy and comfortable. In a short time, they all became quite friendly
together, and the children played tricks with the awkward guest. They
pulled his hair, set their feet on his back, and rolled him here and
there; or took a hazel rod and beat him, and when he growled they
laughed. The bear was very much pleased with this frolic, only, when
they became too mischievous, he called out, "Children, leave me
alone."

"Little Snow-white and Rose-red,
You will strike your lover dead."

When bedtime came, and the others went to sleep, the mother said to
the bear: "You can lie there on the hearth, and then you will be
sheltered from the cold and the bad weather." At daybreak the two
children let him out, and he trotted over the snow into the wood.
Henceforward, the bear came every evening at the same hour, laid
himself on the hearth, and allowed the children to play with him as
much as they liked; and they became so used to him, that the door was
never bolted until their black companion had arrived. When spring
came, and everything was green out of doors, the bear said one morning
to Snow-white: "Now I must go away, and may not come again the whole
summer."

"Where are you going, dear Bear?" asked Snow-white.

"I must go into the wood, and guard my treasures from the bad dwarfs;
in winter, when the ground is frozen hard, they have to stay
underneath, and cannot work their way through, but now that the sun
has thawed and warmed the earth, they break through, come up, seek,
and steal: what is once in their hands, and lies in their caverns,
does not come so easily into daylight again." Snow-white was quite
sorrowful at parting, and as she unbolted the