Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/195

 Collectanea. 185

The horse took the sword herself and left it in the sand, and lay down on it and killed herself. And the crows came picking the puddings, and the boy put the three bottles on the crows' necks. The three crows flew away, and he waited till he saw them coming in a week after without a feather on tiiem, but bare necked. They had the three bottles at their necks, and he said, " If there is any virtue in the water I'll take some and rub it on the crows to see if it gives them back their feathers."

So he shook some of the water on the crows, and they had beautiful coats of feathers back again.

" It's well for me," he said to himself, " to rub some on my little horse to see if it would do her any good." He rubbed her with the water, and she sprang to her feet as lively as ever. He shook some of the water on himself, and went home to the queen golden, flaming, with the three bottles of water.

The queen golden, flaming, ordered a big cauldron of boiling water to be got ready and brought to her. She shook some of the water in the bottle over herself, and jumped into the cauldron of boiling water, and said, " I'll never marry a man but the one who can come in here."

The young king jumped into the boiling water and died on the spot. Then the nobleman's son went into the cauldron of boiling water and came out safe. The queen golden, flaming, married him then, and he went out to the stable and told his little brown horse that he was married.

And the little brown horse said to him, "You would sooner have the queen golden, flaming, than I who brought you out of all your dangers. It's her that you would marry and not me."

And with that she turned into a beautiful lady, and disappeared. She had been under an enchantment.

The Hill of Meedles.

There was a nobleman long ago, and his wife died when she had a daughter. And there was a room in the house, and wlien he went out fowling he put a lock on the door after him. And one day he went out he forgot to put the lock on it ; and his daughter found it open, and there was a chair in the room. And she went in