upon his horse and the Prince and his chosen princess rode away.




THE HUT IN THE FOREST.

"Indra! Indra! Indra! Oh, Indra! Where are you?" called Carla and
Alween. "Come, Indra, we are going home. Come, it will soon be dark.
Hurry, or we shall lose our way." But Indra did not answer. In her
eagerness to find the biggest berries she had strayed away from her
sisters. Now it was quite dark, and she could not find the path. She
called and called but heard nothing save the sound of her own voice.
At last, just as she was thinking, "I will have to pass the night here
all alone in the wood," she saw a light shining through the darkness.
Following this light, Indra soon stood in front of a small house at the
door of which she knocked. "Come in!" called a harsh voice. Stepping
inside, the girl saw before her an old man whose beard was long, whose
hair was white and whose back was bent almost double; while lying near
him in front of the fire, were a cock, a hen and a brindled cow.

"I have lost my way in the forest," said Indra. "It is dark, I have
nowhere to sleep and I am so hungry. Will you not give me something to
eat and a bed to lie on?"

The old man looked at her for a long time with his sharp, gray eyes
then, turning to the animals by the fire, he said,--

"My cock, my hen,
My brindled cow,