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122 GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES.
was no one in it. And when they entered the house there sat
Aschenputtel in her dirty clothes among the cinders, and a little
oil-lamp burnt dimly in the chimney ; for Aschenputtel had
been very quick, and had jumped out of the pigeon-house
again, and had run to the hazel bush ; and there she had taken
off her beautiful dress and had laid it on the grave, and the
bird had carried it away again, and then she had put on her
little gray kirtle again, and had sat down in the kitchen among
the cinders.
The next day, when the festival began anew, and the
parents and step-sisters had gone to it, Aschenputtel went to
the hazel bush and cried,
‘* Little tree, little tree, shake over me,
That silver and gold may come down and cover me."
Then the bird cast down a still more splendid dress than
on the day before. And when she appeared in it among the
guests every one was astonished at her beauty. The prince
had been waiting until she came, and he took her hand and
danced with her alone. And when any one else came to invite
her he said,
“She is my partner.”
And when the evening came she wanted to go home, and
the prince followed her, for he wanted to see to what house she
belonged ; but she broke away from him, and ran into the
garden at the back of the house. ‘There stood a fine large tree,
bearing splendid pears ; she leapt as lightly as a squirrel among
the branches, and the prince did not know what had become
of her. So he waited until the father came, and then he told
him that the strange maiden had rushed from him, and that he
thought she had gone up into the pear-tree. ‘The father
thought to himself,
“Tt cannot surely be Aschenputtel,” and called for an axe,
and felled the tree, but there was no one in it. And when
they went into the kitchen there sat Aschenputtel among the
cinders, as usual, for she had got down the other side of the
tree, and had taken back her beautiful clothes to the bird on
the hazel bush, and had put on her old gray kirtle again.
On the third day, when the parents and the step-children
had set off, Aschenputtel went again to her mother’s grave, and
said to the tree,