Page:Household stories from the collection of the Bros Grimm (L & W Crane).djvu/222

 Then his wife was so terrified that she fell all along on the floor, and her cap came off. Then the bird began again to sing,

"Oh," groaned the mother, "that I were a thousand fathoms under ground, so as not to be obliged to hear it."

Then the woman lay as if she were dead.

"Oh," said Marjory, "I will go out, too, and see if the bird will give me anything." And so she went.

Then he threw the shoes down to her.

And poor Marjory all at once felt happy and joyful, and put on her red shoes, and danced and jumped for joy.

"Oh dear," said she, "I felt so sad before I went outside, and now my heart is so light! He is a charming bird to have given me a pair of red shoes."

But the mother's hair stood on end, and looked like flame, and she said,

"Even if the world is coming to an end, I must go out for a little relief."

Just as she came outside the door, crash went the millstone on her head, and crushed her flat. The father and daughter rushed out, and saw smoke and flames of fire rise up; but when that had gone by, there stood the little brother; and he took his father and Marjory by the hand, and they felt very happy and content, and went indoors, and sat to the table, and had their dinner.