husband as ever, and said she was sure that he couldn't help
letting the children go; but still she was afraid beyond the
world to have another child torn from her. Well, the mother and
sisters consulted a wise woman that used to bring eggs to the
castle, for they had great faith in her wisdom. She said the only
plan was to secure the bear's skin that the prince was obliged to
put on every morning, and get it burned, and then he couldn't
help being a man night and day, and the enchantment would be at
an end.

So they all persuaded her to do that, and she promised she would;
and after eight days she felt so great a longing to see her
husband again that she made the wish the same night, and when she
woke three hours after, she was in her husband's palace, and he
himself was watching over her. There was great joy on both sides,
and they were happy for many days.

Now she began to think how she never minded her husband leaving
her in the morning, and how she never found him neglecting to
give her a sweet drink out of a gold cup just as she was going to
bed.

One night she contrived not to drink any of it, though she
pretended to do so; and she was wakeful enough in the morning,
and saw her husband passing out through a panel in the wainscot,
though she kept her eyelids nearly closed. The next night she got
a few drops of the sleepy posset that she saved the evening
before put into her husband's night drink, and that made him
sleep sound enough. She got up after midnight, passed through the
panel, and found a Beautiful brown bear's hide hanging in the