Page:The Grey Fairy Book.djvu/174

160 And as she hastened on a raven beheld the blood on the ground, and plastered it with earth, and stayed by her till she reached the castle. And as she entered the door he flew past, and she shrieked from fright, for up to that moment she had not seen him. In her terror she called after him, ‘May you get the same start as you have given me!’



‘Why should you wish me harm,’ asked the raven pausing in his flight, ‘when I have done you a service?’

‘What service have you done me?’ said she.

‘Oh, you shall soon see,’ replied the raven, and with his bill he scraped away all the earth he had smeared over the blood and then flew away.