to the hungry animals. "Now I am satisfied," said Carla at last.
"Show me where to sleep." The animals said nothing, but the old man
told her to prepare the two beds in the loft. After spreading them
with fresh linen the girl laid herself down upon one of the beds and
fell fast asleep.

When the old man climbed to the loft and saw Carla lying in a sound
slumber, he opened the curious door again and let her also down into
the cellar.

Now when Carla failed to return home. Mother Grougans was lost in
grief and she forbade her youngest daughter, Alween, to go into the
wood on any account whatsoever. And she said, "Shall I lose my
youngest and my dearest also?" But soon mother and daughter were both
so hungry that Alween was forced to go into the forbidden forest in
search of food. In her eagerness to get the largest and the sweetest
berries for her mother, she too strayed away from the path, and all
happened with her as it had with her sisters.

When Alween entered the hut and begged for food and shelter, the old
man turned to his animals and said,--

"My cock, my hen,
My brindled cow,
What say you now?
What say you now?"

The cock, the hen, and the brindled cow all opened their mouths and
called out together,--