outside, and let her try." And she came in, and took the shirt,
and washed it quite clean and white, all in a minute. Then the
old Witch-mother put herself into such a rage that she burst
into pieces, and so did the Princess with the long nose, and so
did all the Trolls in the castle; and the Prince took his wife
away with him, and all the silver and gold, and a number of
Christian people who had been enchanted by the witch; and away
they went for ever from the dreary Land East of the Sun and West
of the Moon.

In the story of "The Soaring Lark," in the collection of German
popular tales made by the brothers Grimm, we have another
version of the same idea; and here, as in Eros and Psyche, and
in the Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon, it is the
woman to whose fault the misfortunes are laid, and upon whom
falls the long and weary task of search. The story told in
brief, is this. A merchant went on a journey, and promised to
bring back for his three daughters whatever they wished. The
eldest asked for diamonds, the second for pearls, and the
youngest, who was her father's favourite, for a singing, soaring
lark. As the merchant came home, he passed through a great
forest, and on the top bough of a tall tree he found a lark, and
tried to take it. Then a Lion sprang from behind the tree, and
said the lark was his, and that he would eat up the merchant for
trying to steal it. The merchant told the Lion why he wanted the
bird, and then the Lion said that he would give him the lark,
and let him go, on one condition, namely, that he should give to
the Lion the first thing or person that met him on his return.
Now the first person who met the merchant when he got home was
his youngest daughter, and the poor merchant told her the story,