After a while, there was another festival, and then, as before,
Allerleirauh begged the cook for leave to go and look on. He answered,
“Yes, but come back again in half-an-hour, and make the King the bread
soup which he so much likes.” Then she ran into her den, washed herself
quickly, and took out of the nut the dress which was as silvery as the
moon, and put it on. Then she went up and was like a princess, and the
King stepped forward to meet her, and rejoiced to see her once more,
and as the dance was just beginning they danced it together. But when
it was ended, she again disappeared so quickly that the King could not
observe where she went. She, however, sprang into her den, and once
more made herself a hairy animal, and went into the kitchen to prepare
the bread soup. When the cook had gone up-stairs, she fetched the
little golden spinning-wheel, and put it in the bowl so that the soup
covered it. Then it was taken to the King, who ate it, and liked it as
much as before, and had the cook brought, who this time likewise was
forced to confess that Allerleirauh had prepared the soup. Allerleirauh
again came before the King, but she answered that she was good for
nothing else but to have boots thrown at her head, and that she knew
nothing at all about the little golden spinning-wheel.
When, for the third time, the King held a festival, all happened just
as it had done before. The cook said, “Faith rough-skin, thou art a
witch, and always puttest something in the soup which makes it so good
that the King likes it better than that which I cook,” but as she
begged so hard, he let her go up at the appointed time. And now she put
on the dress which shone like the stars, and thus entered the hall.
Again the King danced with the beautiful maiden, and thought that she
never yet had been so beautiful. And whilst she was dancing, he
contrived, without her noticing it, to slip a golden ring on her
finger, and he had given orders that the dance should last a very long
time. When it was ended, he wanted to hold her fast by her hands, but
she tore herself loose, and sprang away so quickly through the crowd
that she vanished from his sight. She ran as fast as she could into her
den beneath the stairs, but as she had been too long, and had stayed
more than half-an-hour she could not take off her pretty dress, but
only threw over it her fur-mantle, and in her haste she did not make
herself quite black, but one finger remained white. Then Allerleirauh
ran into the kitchen, and cooked the bread soup for the King, and as
the cook was away, put her golden reel into it. When the King found the
reel at the bottom of it, he caused Allerleirauh to be summoned, and
then he espied the white finger, and saw the ring which he had put on
it during the dance. Then he grasped her by the hand, and held her
fast, and when she wanted to release herself and run away, her mantle
of fur opened a little, and the star-dress shone forth. The King
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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