They came home, and the little maid, Martha, fell at the feet of her
stepmother. The old woman nearly went off her head with rage when she
saw her alive, with her fur cloak and rich veil, and the box of
splendid presents fit for the daughter of a prince.

"Ah, you slut," she cried, "you won't get round me like that!"

And she would not say another word to the little maid, but went about
all day long biting her nails and thinking what to do.

At night she said to the old man,--

"You must take my daughters, too, to that bridegroom in the forest. He
will give them better gifts than these."

Things take time to happen, but the tale is quickly told. Early next
morning the old woman woke her daughters, fed them with good food,
dressed them like brides, hustled the old man, made him put clean hay
in the sledge and warm blankets, and sent them off to the forest.

The old man did as he was bid--drove to the big fir tree, set the
boxes under the tree, lifted out the stepdaughters and set them on the
boxes side by side, and drove back home.

They were warmly dressed, these two, and well fed, and at first, as
they sat there, they did not think about the cold.

"I can't think what put it into mother's head to marry us both at
once," said the first, "and to send us here to be married. As if there
were not enough young men in the village. Who can tell what sort of