‘I have three bad animals here,’ he said, ‘that I want to get rid of. If you will take them and feed them, and treat them as I wish, I will pay you what you like to ask.’
‘Why not?’ said the Miller. ‘How do you want them treated?’
The Huntsman said he wanted the old she-ass (the Witch) to be well beaten three times a day and fed once. The younger one, which was the Maid, beaten once and fed three times. The youngest of all, who was the beautiful Maiden, was to be fed three times, and not beaten at all; he could not find it in his heart to have her beaten.
Then he went back to the castle and found everything he wanted in it.
A few days later the Miller came and told him that the old ass which was to be beaten three times and fed once, was dead. ‘The other two,’ he said, ‘which are to be fed three times, are not dead, but they are pining away, and won’t last long.’
The Huntsman’s heart was stirred with pity, and he told the Miller to bring them back to him.
When they came he gave them some of the other salad to eat, so that they took their human shapes again.
The beautiful Maiden fell on her knees before him, and said: ‘O my beloved, forgive me all the wrong I have done you. My mother forced me to do it. It was against my own will, for I love you dearly. Your wishing-cloak is hanging in the cupboard, and you shall have the bird’s heart back too.’
But he said: ‘Keep it; it will be all the same, as I will take you to be my own true wife.’
Their marriage was soon after celebrated, and they lived happily together till they died.
