was fine
and strong, while the stepsister had only some coarse stuff, which no
one would have thought of using. As might be expected, in a very little
while the poor girl's thread snapped, and the old woman, who had been
watching from behind a door, seized her stepdaughter by her shoulders,
and threw her into the well.

'That is an end of you!' she said. But she was wrong, for it was only
the beginning.

Down, down, down went the girl--it seemed as if the well must reach to
the very middle of the earth; but at last her feet touched the ground,
and she found herself in a field more beautiful than even the summer
pastures of her native mountains. Trees waved in the soft breeze, and
flowers of the brightest colours danced in the grass. And though she was
quite alone, the girl's heart danced too, for she felt happier than she
had since her father died. So she walked on through the meadow till she
came to an old tumbledown fence--so old that it was a wonder it managed
to stand up at all, and it looked as if it depended for support on the
old man's beard that climbed all over it.

The girl paused for a moment as she came up, and gazed about for a place
where she might safely cross. But before she could move a voice cried
from the fence:

'Do not hurt me, little maiden; I am so old, so old, I have not much
longer to live.'

And the maiden answered:

'No, I will not hurt you; fear nothing.' And then seeing a spot where
the clematis grew less thickly than in other places, she jumped lightly
over.

'May all go well with thee,' said the fence, as the girl walked on.

She soon left the meadow and turned into a path which ran between two
flowery hedges. Right in front of her stood an oven, and through its
open door she could see a pile of white loaves.

'Eat as many loaves as you like, but do me no harm, little maiden,'
cried the oven. And the maiden told her to fear nothing, for she never
hurt anything, and was very grateful for the oven's kindness in giving
her such a beautiful white loaf. When she had finished it, down to the
last crumb, she shut the oven door and said: 'Good-morning.'

'May all go well with thee,' said the oven, as the girl walked on.

By-and-by she became very thirsty, and seeing a cow with a milk-pail
hanging on her horn, turned towards her.

'Milk me and drink as much as you will, little maiden,' cried the cow,
'but be sure you spill none on the ground; and do me no harm, for I have
never har