possession of the stove, round which they gathered with the book, and
the game commenced. Each in turn read whichever poem he preferred; and
the reader for the time being, was wrapt in a huge hood and cloak,
kept for the purpose, and was called the "Märchen-Frau," or Story
Woman. Sometimes the song had a chorus, which all the children sang to
whichever suited best of the thousand airs that are always floating
in German brains. Sometimes, if the ballad was a favourite one, the
others would take part in any verses that contained a dialogue. This
was generally the case with some verses in the pet ballad of
Bluebeard, at that exciting point where Sister Anne is looking from
the castle window. First the Märchen-Frau read in a sonorous voice--

"Schwester Aennchen, siehst du nichts?"
(Sister Anne, do you see nothing?)

Then the others replied for Anne--

"Stäubchen fliegen, Gräschen wehen."
(A little dust flies, a little grass waves.)

Again the Märchen-Frau--

"Aennchen, lässt sich sonst nichts sehen?"
(Little Anne, is there nothing else to be seen?)

And the unsatisfactory reply--

"Schwesterchen, sonst seh' ich nichts!"
(Little sister, I see nothing else!)