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 Then said Lina to Fundevogel: ‘Never forsake me, and I will never forsake thee.’

And Fundevogel answered: ‘I will never forsake thee.’

Then Lina said: ‘I must tell thee now. Old Sanna brought in so many pails of water last night, that I asked her what she was doing. She said if I would not tell anybody, she would tell me what it was for. So I promised not to tell anybody, and she said that in the morning, when the father had gone out hunting, she would fill the kettle, and when it was boiling, she would throw thee into it and boil thee. Now we must get up quickly, dress ourselves, and run away.’

So the children got up, dressed quickly, and left the house.

When the water boiled, the Cook went to their bedroom to fetch Fundevogel to throw him into it. But when she entered the room, and went up to the bed, both the children were gone. She was terribly frightened, and said to herself: ‘Whatever am I to say to the Forester when he comes home and finds the children gone? We must hurry after them and get them back.’ So the Cook despatched three men-servants to catch up the children and bring them back.

The children were sitting near a wood, and when they saw the three men a great way off, Lina said to Fundevogel, ‘Do not forsake me, and I will never forsake thee.’

And Fundevogel answered, ‘I will never forsake thee as long as I live.’

Then Lina said, ‘Thou must turn into a rosebush, and I will be a rosebud upon it.’

When the three men reached the wood, they found nothing but a rosebush with one rosebud on it; no children were to be seen. They said to each other, ‘There is nothing to be done here.’ And they went home and told the Cook that they had seen nothing whatever but a rosebush, with one rosebud on it.

The old Cook scolded them, and said: ‘You boobies, you ought to have hacked the rosebush to pieces, broken off the bud, and brought it home to me. Off with you at once and do it.” So they had to start off again on the search.