Page:Danish fairy and folk tales.djvu/294

 travelled a long distance, the witch made a fearful storm gather around them. It became as dark as the darkest night around the place; the escort was scattered, and the daughter of the evil woman emerged from the depths of a black cloud. She and her mother seized Rosamund, who cried torrents of pearls, and robbed her of her beautiful eyes, which they threw into a ditch at one side of the road, while the princess was herself pushed out into the mud at the other side. Now the daughter of the witch seated herself in the carriage with her mother, and away they drove to the home of Prince Hermes.

The unfortunate princess was in the mean time lying in the ditch, bewailing her cruel fate. At length two wagoners who passed along the road heard her voice, and pulled her out of the disagreeable place. Her shoes were lost, her stockings were torn, and when she walked there was a sound like the ring of gold from under her feet. As one of the men bent down to find out the reason of this sound he noticed the gold pieces.

The two men at once became mad with joy. They forced the princess to walk about all the livelong day, the one leading her by her hand while his comrade busied himself with gathering up the money. Finally she fainted from sheer exhaustion and pain. She was, in fact, more dead than alive, and her feet bled from the many sharp stones that had hurt them over and over again. The wagoners now