Page:Hansel and Gretel and other stories.djvu/254

CATSKIN ful as her mother, and had the same golden hair. And when she was grown up, the King looked at her and saw that she was just like his late Queen; then he said to his courtiers, "May I not marry my daughter? she is the very image of my dead wife: unless I have her, I shall not find any bride upon the whole earth, and you say there must be a Queen." When the courtiers heard this, they were shocked, and said, "Heaven forbid that a father should marry his daughter! out of so great a sin no good can come." And his daughter was also shocked, but hoped the King would soon give up such thoughts; so she said to him, "Before I marry any one I must have three dresses: one must be of gold like the sun, another must be of shining silver like the moon, and a third must be dazzling as the stars; besides this, I want a mantle of a thousand different kinds of fur put together, to which every beast in the kingdom must give a part of his skin." And thus she thought he would think of the matter no more. But the King made the most skilful workmen in his kingdom weave the three dresses, one as golden as the sun, another as silvery as the moon, and a third shining like the stars; and his hunters were told to hunt out all the beasts in his kingdom and take the finest furs out of their skins: and so a mantle of a thousand furs was made.

When all was ready, the King sent them to her; but she got up in the night when all were asleep, and took 250