Page:Popular tales from the Norse (1912).djvu/510

 324 "That she be the prettiest lassie in the world, and as fair as the bright day," said the first head.

"That gold shall drop from her hair every time she brushes it," said the second head.

"That gold shall fall from her mouth every time she speaks," said the third head.

So when the lassie came home looking so lovely, and beaming as the bright day itself, her stepmother and hei stepsister got more and more cross, and they got worse still when she began to talk, and they saw how golden guineas fell from her mouth. As for the stepmother, she got so mad with rage, she chased the lassie into the pigsty. That was the right place for all her gold stuff, but as for coming into the house she wouldn't hear of it.

Well, it wasn't long before the stepmother wished her own daughter to go to the burn to fetch water. So when she came to the water's edge with her buckets, up popped the first head.

"Wash me, you lassie," it said.

"The Deil, wash you," said the stepdaughter.

So the second head popped up.

"Brush me, you lassie," it said.

"The Deil brush you," said the stepdaughter.

So down it went to the bottom, and the third head popped up.

"Kiss me, you lassie," said the head.

"The Deil kiss you, you pig's-snout," said the girl.

Then the heads chattered together again, and asked what they should do to the girl who was so spiteful and cross-grained; and they all agreed she should have a nose four ells long, and a snout three ells long, and a pine-bush