mbroidered in silver and gold, and decked her with sparkling
diamonds. She glittered and shone, and was dazzling to behold. Then
placing her in his sleigh, he wrapped her in furs; and six white
horses bore them swiftly away.

The stepmother, at home, was baking pancakes for the girl's funeral
feast. "Go in the field," she said to her husband, "and bring your
daughter's body home, so we can bury her." The old man rose to obey,
when the little dog barked:

"Your daughter shall not die;
Her's cold and stiff shall lie."

The woman kicked the dog, then tried to coax it with a pancake,
telling it to say:

"Her daughter shall have gold;
His be frozen stiff and cold."

When the little dog had swallowed the pancake, he barked:

"His daughter shall be wed;
Her's shall be frozen dead."

The woman beat the dog, then coaxed it with more pancakes; but the
blows could not terrify it nor food persuade. It barked always the
same. Suddenly the door opened, and a huge chest was thrust into the
room, followed by the radiant stepdaughter, in a dress that dazzled
them with its beauty.

As soon as the stepmother recovered from her astonishment, she
ordered her husband to yoke the horses to the sledge, and take her own
daughter to the field. "Take care you leave her in the same place,"
the old woman cautioned. The father left the girl as he was bidden,
and returned to his home.

She was not long alone when King Frost came by.

"Are you warm, maiden?" he asked.

"You must be a fool not to see that my hands and feet are nearly
frozen," she angrily replied.

The King danced in front of her, and cracked his fingers.

"Are you warm, maiden?" he asked her, over and over. She cried with
rage, and called him rude names, until he froze the words on her lips,
and she was dead.

The mother waited for her daughter's return until she became
impatient; then she told her husband to take the sledge and go for
her. "But don't lose the chest," she added.

The dog under the table, barked:

"Your daughter frozen cold,
Will never need a chest of gold."

The old woman was scolding the dog for telling lies, when the door
opened. Rushing out to welcome her daughter and her treasures, she
clasped the frozen body in her arms; and the chill of it killed her.

* * * * *

TALES FOR TINY TOTS

* * * * *

TELL US A TALE

BY EDWARD SHIRLEY

"Tell us a