the flax that is in the third room, and the day after you shall be married to my son.”
The third day all happened just as it had before. The girl was taken to the third room and it was even larger than the others. Scarcely had she been left alone when the three old women opened the door and came in.
“Remember your promise,” said they.
“I will remember,” answered the girl.
The old women took their places, and before night all the flax was spun. Then they rose. “To-morrow will be your wedding day, and we will be at the feast. If you keep your word to us, all will go well with you, but if you forget it, misfortune will surely come upon you.” Then they disappeared through the door as they had come, the eldest first.
When the Queen came that evening she was even more delighted than before. Never had she seen such thread, so smooth it was and even.
The girl was led down from the tower and dressed in silks and velvets and jewels, and when thus dressed she was so beautiful that the Prince was filled with love and joy at the sight of her. The next day they were married, and a grand feast was spread. To this feast all the noblest in the land were invited.
The bride sat beside her husband, and he could look at no one else, she was so beautiful.
Just as the feast was about to begin the door opened and the three old women who had spun the flax came in.
The Prince looked at them wonderingly. Never had he seen such hideous, ugly creatures before. “Who are these?” he asked of the girl.
“These,” said she, “are my three old aunts, and I have promised they shall sit at the table with us, for they have been so kind to me that no one could be kinder.”
The girl then rose, and went to meet the old women. “Welcome, my aunts,” she said, and led them to the table. The Prince loved the girl so dearly that all she did seemed right to him. He commanded that places should be put for the old women, and they sat at the table with him and his bride.
They were so hideous, however, that the Prince could not keep his eyes off them. At length he said to the eldest, “Forgive me, good mother, but why is your foot so broad?”
“From treading the thread, my son, from treading the thread,” she answered.
The Prince wondered; he turned to the second old woman. “And you, good mother,” he said, “why does your lip hang down?”
“From wetting the thread,” she answered. “From wetting the thread.”
The Prince was frightened. He spoke to the third old woman. “And you, why is your thumb so broad, if I may ask it?”
“From pressing and twisting,” she answered. “From pressing and twisting.”
The Prince turned pale. “If this is what comes of spinning,” said he, “never shall my bride touch the flax again.”
And so it was. Never was the girl allowed even to look at a spinning wheel again; and that did not trouble her, as you may guess.
As for the old women, they disappeared as soon as the feast was over, and no one saw them again, but the bride lived happy forever after.
The Cat that walked by himself
HEAR and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was, o my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild. The Dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, and the Sheep was wild, and the Pig was wild – as wild as wild could be – and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.
Of course, the Man was wild too. He was dreadfully wild. He didn’t even begin to be tame till he met the Woman, and she told him that she did not like living in his wild ways. She picked out a nice dry Cave, instead of a heap of wet leaves, to lie down in; and she strewed clean sand on the floor; and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the Cave; and she hung a dried wild-horse skin, tail-down, across the opening of the Cave; and she said, ‘‘Wipe you feet, dear, when you come in, and now we’ll keep house.’’
That night, Best Beloved, they ate wild sheep roasted on the hot stones, and flavoured with wild garlic and wild pepper; and wild duck stuffed with wild rice and wild fenugreek and wild coriander; and marrow-bones of wild oxen; and wild cherries, and wild grenadillas. Then the Man went to sleep in front of the fire ever so happy; but the Woman sat up, combing her hair. She took the bone of the shoulder of mutton – the big fat blade-bone – and she looked at the wonderful marks on it, and she threw more wood on the fire, and she made a Magic. She made the First Singing Magic in the world.
Out in the Wet Wild Woods all the wild animals gathered together where they could see the light of the fire a long way off, and they wondered what it meant.
Then Wild Horse stamped with his wild foot and said, ‘‘O my Friends and O my Enemies, why have the Man and the Woman made that great light in that great Cave, and what harm will it do us?’’
Wild Dog lifted up his wild nose and smelled the smell of roast mutton, and said, ‘‘I will go up and see and look, and say; for I think it is good. Cat, come with me.’’
‘‘Nenni!’’ said the Cat. ‘‘I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me. I will not come.’’
‘‘Then we can never be friends again,’’ said Wild Dog, and he trotted off to the Cave. But when he had gone a little way the Cat said to himself, ‘‘All places are alike to me. Why should I not go too and see and look and come away at my own liking.’’ So he slipped after Wild Dog softly, very softly, and hid himself where he could hear everything.
When Wild Dog reached the mouth of the Cave he lifted up the dried horse-skin with his nose and sniffed the beautiful smell of the roast mutton, and the Woman, looking at the blade-bone, heard him, and laughed, and said, ‘Here comes the first. Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, what do you want?’
Wild Dog said, ‘‘O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, what is this that smells so good in the Wild Woods?’’
Then the Woman picked up a roasted mutton-bone and threw it to Wild Dog, and said, ‘‘Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, taste and try.’’ Wild Dog gnawed the bone, and it was more delicious than anything he had ever tasted, and he said, ‘‘O my Enemy and Wife of my Enemy, give me another.’’
The Woman said, ‘‘Wild Thing out of the Wild Woods, help my Man to hunt through the day and guard this Cave at night, and I will give you as many roast bones as you need.’’
‘‘Ah!’’ said the Cat, listening. ‘‘This is a very wise Woman, but she is not so wise as I am.’’
Wild Dog crawled into the Cave and laid his head on the Woman’s lap, and said, ‘‘O my Friend and Wife of my Friend, I will help Your Man to hunt through the day, and at night I will guard your Cave.’’
‘‘Ah!’’ said the Cat, listening. ‘That is a very foolish Dog.’’ And he went back through the Wet Wild Woods waving his wild tail, and walking by his wild lone. But he never told anybody.
When the Man waked up he said, ‘‘What is Wild Dog doing here?’’ And the Woman said, ‘‘His
