months, and the ground was
green; and three months, and the flowers came up out of the earth; and
four months, and all the trees in the wood burst forth, and the green
twigs all grew thickly together; the little birds sang so that the
whole wood rang, and the blossoms fell from the trees. The fifth month
passed, and she stood under the Juniper-tree, and it smelt so
beautiful, and her heart leaped with joy. She fell upon her knees,
but could not speak. When the sixth month was gone, the fruit was
large and ripe, and she was very quiet; the seventh month, she took
the juniper berries, ate them eagerly, and was sick and sorrowful; and
the eighth month went by, and she called to her husband, and cried and
said, "If I die, bury me under the Juniper-tree."

After this she was quite comforted and happy, till the next month was
passed, and then she had a child as white as snow and as red as blood.
When she beheld it, she was so glad, that she died.

Her husband buried her under the Juniper-tree, and began to mourn very
much; but after a little time, he became calmer, and when he had wept
a little more, he left off weeping entirely, and soon afterwards he
took another wife.

The second wife brought him a daughter, but the child of the first
wife was a little son, and was as red as blood, and as white as snow.
When the wife looked at her daughter, she loved her; but when she
looked at the little boy, she hated him, and it seemed as if he were
always in her way, and she was always thinking how she could get all
the property for her daughter. The Evil One possessed her so, that she
was quite angry with the little boy, and pushed him about from one
corner to another, and cuffed him here and pinched him there, until
the poor child was always in fear. When he came home from school, he
could not find a quiet place to creep into.

Once, when the woman went up to her room, her little daughter came up
too, and said "Mother, give me an apple."

"Yes, my child," said the woman, and gave her a beautiful apple out of
the chest; and the chest had a great heavy lid, with a great sharp
iron lock.

"Mother," said the little daughter, "shall not brother have one too?"

That vexed the woman, but she said, "Yes, when he comes from school."

And when she saw from the window that he was coming, it was just as if
the Evil One came into her, and she snatched away the apple from her
daughter, and said, "You shall not have one before your brothe