Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/247

 Before sun-rise on the succeeding day, as she was sharpening a large knife to kill the bird she destined for breakfast, having already set the pot on the fire with water to boil, the hen announced in her usual manner that she had laid an egg. The universal legatee, delighted with this unhoped-for addition to her scanty means of subsistence, flew to the basket, and there found the treasure so long looked for. “This will do for breakfast,” said she; “and ’twill be ready so much sooner.” The execution of the hen was for the present postponed. The egg was thrown into the pot; on being taken out ’twas heavier than lead, and when the lady broke the shell, she found, to her immense astonishment, that the yolk was one solid mass of gold!

The joy of this discovery effectually superseded all feelings of hunger; her first thought was to feed and caress the hen. Fervently did she thank heaven that she had learned the great value of her acquisition before the pot had received so precious a treasure. This alchymist of a hen gave quite a new turn to her ideas respecting her old hostess, whom she had at first taken to be merely a decrepit mortal, and whom afterwards, when forced to live on her vile soups, she had looked upon as a beggar of the poorest class; now she considered her to be either a beneficent fairy, who, taking compassion on her, had bestowed upon her this invaluable gift;