"Thank you kindly, sir," said the man; and he went in and brought out
the lass and gave her to the Baron, who mounted his horse and rode
away with her. And when he got by the bank of the river Ouse, he threw
the little, thing into the river, and rode off to his castle.

But the little lass didn't sink; her clothes kept her up for a time,
and she floated, and she floated, till she was cast ashore just in
front of a fisherman's hut. There the fisherman found her, and took
pity on the poor little thing and took her into his house, and she
lived there till she was fifteen years old, and a fine handsome girl.

One day it happened that the Baron went out hunting with some
companions along the banks of the River Ouse, and stopped at the
fisherman's hut to get a drink, and the girl came out to give it to
them. They all noticed her beauty, and one of them said to the Baron:
"You can read fates, Baron, whom will she marry, d'ye think?"

"Oh! that's easy to guess," said the Baron; "some yokel or other. But
I'll cast her horoscope. Come here girl, and tell me on what day you
were born?"

"I don't know, sir," said the girl, "I was picked up just here after
having been brought down by the river about fifteen years ago."

Then the Baron knew who she was, and when they went away, he rode back
and said to the girl: "Hark ye, girl, I will make your fortune. Take
this letter to my brother in Scarborough, and you will be settled for
life." And the girl took the letter and said she would go. Now this
was what he had written in the letter: