Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/141

 "But you cannot warm me, bent old woman."

"What have you come to me for, then?"

"For a coal of fire."

"I'll give you two coals of fire if you wait until the coals are red."

"I will wait then," said Golden Hood.

So she stayed, waiting for the coals to become red. But when they were near becoming red the hag would strike them with her iron tongs, saying that she wanted to stir them to a better glow, and then the coals would lose what redness they had.

Once she went to look into her glass. Then Golden Hood seized two glowing coals and she put them into a pot, and she ran out of the door, carrying the pot with her.

The hag screamed after her.

But Golden Hood ran on and on. She was a long time coming from the eagles' nest to the black house, and she was a long time going from the black house back to the eagles' nest. When