Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 3 1885.djvu/301

Rh wife came back again to him. Very much astonished, the king said to her:—"How wast thou changed into a bird?" "That black woman whom thou hast here," quoth she, "made me come down from the tree, and whilst I was asleep she stuck those pins into me; and when I woke I found myself changed into a turtle-dove." The king, very wroth with the black woman, ordered her to be slain, afterwards burnt, and the ashes to be cast to the winds. Great royal feasts were proclaimed; and all the people made holy-day; and the tale came to an end.

Thou must know so as to tell, and understand so as to know, that this was an old man who had a very beautiful daughter—but very rustic people who knew not what gold or silver was. The old man went to the forest every day to cut firewood in order to sell it in the city and to bring food for himself, his wife and daughter, with the price of it. One day that he was chopping the trunk of a very thick tree, he heard a groaning inside and the tree began to shed forth blood. All at once a very ugly black man showed himself and said to him, "What hast thou done so as to wound me? Thou shalt die for thy audacity!" The old man made excuses, saying, "Pardon me, my lord; for I am so poor that I come to look for firewood to maintain my wife and an only daughter that I have, and I was not aware that thou wert inside the tree." "And thy daughter—is she beautiful?" said the black man. "Ah yes, my lord," said the old man, "and very much so." "Very well then," said the black to him, "I will spare thy life if in return therefor thou give me thy daughter in marriage, and if not thou shalt die on the spot. Within eight days thou must make thy appearance here with the answer, and if the damsel does not consent thou must come to tell me so. To this end," he told him, "split open the trunk of this tree, take out all the money thou pleasest, and take it to thy wife and thy daughter." The old man cut down the tree, and found inside so many gold ounces that he loaded his donkey with them and took them to his house. When he got there, his wife and daughter, who were awaiting him, asked him