Page:Researches respecting the Book of Sindibad and Portuguese Folk-Tales.djvu/71

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THE STEP-MOTHER.
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hair, and tie it round the neck of your horse and of your lion. The boy took the horse and the lion into the stable, but instead of tying them up, he, with a pair of scissors he brought with him, cut up the hair the old woman had given him into little bits. He then left the stable and asked for his breakfast. The old woman replied to this, "You shall have your breakfast, oh yes Sir, my boy, but first of all let us have a wrestle together." The boy instantly called out to his horse and lion, "Come to my help, my horse and my lion!" The old woman said, "Let the thin hair become a very strong coil round the neck of your horse and your lion!" But the boy had cut up the hair into very small bits and had thrown them into the sea. The lion and the horse responded to the call, and came immediately. The boy then said to the hag: "You must bring my brothers to me here or else you shall die!" The old hag replied, "Oh, Sir! I know nothing of your brothers." The boy then told her that he was going to kill her; and the old woman had no other alternative left but to confess where the brothers were. She then gave an ointment and a scent for the dead brothers to smell. The boy went and anointed the bodies of his brothers, and when he put the scent to their noses they returned immediately to life. When the three brothers found themselves together again they went to the old hag, caught her, dug a grave, and buried her alive in it.




XII.—The Step-mother.

There was once a widower who had a son and a daughter. The girl went to school, and the mistress was continually telling her to ask the father to marry her. The mistress had three