Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/391

Rh easier task, was in great joy, thinking that the weather had begun to grow milder. Alas, how crooked is human judgement! On the way she met Thunder-and-Lightning, who, seeing her walking at a quick pace, said to her, "Whither are you going, wretched girl? see you not that you are on the way to the slaughter, that you are forging your own fetters, and sharpening the knife and mixing the poison for yourself, that you are sent to the ogress for her to swallow you? But listen to me and fear not: take this little loaf, this bundle of hay, and this stone; and when you come to the house of my aunt, you will find a bulldog, which will fly barking at you to bite you; but give him this little loaf, and it will stop his throat. And when you have passed the dog, you will meet a horse running loose, which will run up to kick and trample on you; but give him the hay, and you will clog his feet. At last you will come to a door, banging to and fro continually; put this stone before it, and you will stop its fury. Then mount upstairs, and you will find the ogress, with a little child in her arms, and the oven ready heated to bake you. Whereupon she will say to you, 'Hold this little creature, and wait here till I go and fetch the instruments.' But mind—she will only go to whet her tusks, in order to tear you in pieces. Then throw the little child into the oven without pity, take