Page:Cinderella, Roalfe Cox.djvu/531



(1) Widower with one son marries widow with one daughter. Hero is ill-treated by stepmother and stepsister, sent in all weathers to herd cattle, and allowed no food but a few grains of barley in his box.—(2) Among the sheep is a big grey ewe with a large teat which hero sucks, and so looks well-nourished.—(3) Stepmother thrice sends daughter to spy. On the first and second occasions hero puts her to sleep by lousing her.—(4) The third day stepmother puts a magpie's eye down her neck. In the evening, when asked by what means the boy lives, stepsister answers, "I saw nothing!" But magpie-eye says, "I saw the whole thing. He sucks the grey sheep."—(5) The sheep is at once slain, yet hero keeps healthy.—(6) There is further attempt to discover the secret, and on the third day the magpie-eye again reveals it: "He sucks the ear of the brown ox."—(7) Ox is to be killed;