neck, and asked him if he had brought her some sweetstuff. The knife fell from his hands, and he went to the yard, and cut the throat of a little lamb instead. This he served up with some sauce, which was so delightful that the queen-mother vowed she had never tasted anything better in her life. In the meantime he carried off little Dawn, and gave her to his wife, who hid her in their own quarters at the bottom of the yard.
About a week afterwards, the wicked queen-mother said to her steward: “Master Simon, I want to eat little Day for my supper.” He did not reply at all, but, resolving to deceive her again, went to look for little Day, and found him with a tiny foil in his hand, with which he was pretending to fence a huge ape. He was only three years old. The steward carried the boy to his wife, who hid him with little Dawn; and he served up instead to the wicked queen-mother a tender little kid, which she found admirable fare. So all was well, so far as that was concerned; but one evening the wicked old queen called out in a terrible voice: “Master Simon! Master Simon!” He went to her immediately. “To-morrow,” said she, “I want to eat my daughter-in-law.” Then at last Master Simon despaired of being still able to hoodwink the old ogress. The young queen was now some twenty years old, without counting the hundred years that she had slept. How should he get an animal to replace her? He decided that there was nothing for it. To save his own life, he must cut the young queen’s throat, and he went up to her room determined to finish the business there and then. Working himself up into a suitable frenzy, he entered the young queen’s room. He did not wish, however, to take her altogether by surprise; so with great respect he told her of the orders he had received from the queen-mother. “Kill me! kill me!” said she, offering him her neck; “fulfil the command that has been given you. I shall only be going to see my children again—-
