Page:Hansel and Gretel and other stories.djvu/257

CATSKIN one knew whither. The guards who stood at the castle gate were called in; but they had seen no one. The truth was, that she had run into her little cabin, pulled off her dress, blacked her face and hands, put on the furskin cloak, and was Catskin again. When she went into the kitchen to her work, and began to rake the ashes, the cook said, "Let that alone till the morning, and heat the King's soup; I should like to run up now and give a peep; but take care you don't let a hair fall into it, or you will run a chance of never eating again."

As soon as the cook went away, Catskin heated the King's soup and toasted up a slice of bread as nicely as ever she could; and when it was ready, she went and looked in the cabin for her little golden ring, and put it into the dish in which the soup was. When the dance was over, the King ordered his soup to be brought in, and it pleased him so well that he thought he had never tasted any so good before. At the bottom he saw a gold ring lying, and as he could not make out how it had got there, he ordered the cook to be sent for. The cook was frightened when she heard the order, and said to Catskin, "You must have let a hair fall into the soup; if it be so, you will have a good beating." Then she went before the King, and he asked her who had cooked the soup. "I did," answered she. But the King said, "That is not true; it was better done than you could do it." 253