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HERE was once a Queen who had a little daughter still in arms. One day the child was naughty, and would not be quiet, whatever her mother might say.

So she grew impatient, and as the Ravens were flying round the castle, she opened the window, and said: ‘I wish you were a Raven, that you might fly away, and then I should have peace.’

She had hardly said the words, when the child was changed into a Raven, and flew out of the window.

She flew straight into a dark wood, and her parents did not know what had become of her.

One day a Man was passing through this wood and heard the Raven calling.

When he was near enough, the Raven said: ‘I am a Princess by birth, and I am bewitched, but you can deliver me from the spell.’

‘What must I do ?’ asked he.

‘Go further into the wood,’ she said, ‘and you will come to a house with an old Woman in it, who will offer you food and drink. But you must not take any. If you eat or drink what she offers you, you will fall into a deep sleep, and then you will never be able to deliver me. There is a great heap of tan in the garden behind the house; you must stand on it and wait for me. I will come for three days in a coach drawn by four horses which, on the first day, will be white, on the second, chestnut, and on the last, black. If you are not awake, I shall not be delivered.’