astonished at noticing a large hut, which certainly had not been
there when last she had come that way. No one was about, so she
ventured to peep in, and her surprise was increased at seeing,
heaped up in one corner, a quantity of food of all sorts, while a
little robin redbreast stood perched on a beam looking down upon
her.

'It is my father, I am sure,' she cried; and the bird piped in
answer.

From that day, whenever they wanted food they went to the hut,
and though the robin could not speak, he would hop on their
shoulders and let them feed him with the food they knew he liked
best.

When the man came back he found the girl looking so much prettier
and fatter than when he had left her, that he insisted that they
should be married on the spot. And the mother, who did not know
how to get rid of him, gave in.

The husband spent all his time in hunting, and the family had
never had so much meat before; but the man, who had seen for
himself how poor they were, noticed with amazement that they did
not seem to care about it, or to be hungry. 'They must get food
from somewhere,' he thought, and one morning, when he pretended
to be going out to hunt, he hid in a thicket to watch. Very soon
they all left the house together, and walked to the other hut,
which the girl's husband saw for the first time, as it was hid in
a hollow. He followed, and noticed that each one went up to the
redbreast, and shook him by the claw; and he then entered boldly