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<h2> What Came of Picking Flowers </h2>
<p>There was once a woman who had three daughters whom she loved very much.
One day the eldest was walking in a water-meadow, when she saw a pink
growing in the stream. She stooped to pick the flower, but her hand had
scarcely touched it, when she vanished altogether. The next morning the
second sister went out into the meadow, to see if she could find any
traces of the lost girl, and as a branch of lovely roses lay trailing
across her path, she bent down to move it away, and in so doing, could not
resist plucking one of the roses. In a moment she too had disappeared.
Wondering what could have become of her two sisters, the youngest followed
in their footsteps, and fell a victim to a branch of delicious white
jessamine. So the old woman was left without any daughters at all.</p>
<p>She wept, and wept, and wept, all day and all night, and went on weeping
so long, that her son, who had been a little boy when his sisters
disappeared, grew up to be a tall youth. Then one night he asked his
mother to tell him what was the matter.</p>
<p>When he had heard the whole story, he said, 'Give me your blessing,
mother, and I will go and search the world till I find them.'</p>
<p>So he set forth, and after he had travelled several miles without any
adventures, he came upon three big boys fighting in the road. He stopped
and inquired what they were fighting about, and one of them answered:</p>
<p>'My lord! our father left to us, when he died, a pair of boots, a key, and
a cap. Whoever puts on the boots and wishes himself in any place, will
find himself there. The key will open every door in the world, and with
the cap on your head no one can see you. Now our eldest brother wants to
have all three things for himself, and we wish to draw lots for them.'</p>
<p>'Oh, that is easily settled,' said the youth. 'I will throw this stone as
far as I can, and the one who picks it up first, shall have the three
things.' So he took the stone and flung it, and while the three brothers
were running after it, he drew hastily on the boots, and said, 'Boots,
take me to the place where I shall find my eldest sister.'</p>
<p>The next moment the young man was standing on a steep mountain before the
gates of a strong castle guarded by bolts and bars and iron chains. The
key, which he had not forgotten to put in his pocket, opened the doors one
by one, and he walked through a number of halls and corridors, till he met
a beautiful and richly-dressed young lady who started back in surprise at
the sight of him, and exclaimed, 'Oh, sir, how did you contrive <i>to</i>
get in here?' The young man replied that he was her brother, and told her
by what means he had been able to pass through the doors. In return, she
told him how happy she was, except for one thing, and that was, her
husband lay under a spell, and could never break it till there should be
put to death a man who could not die.</p>
<p>They talked together for a long time, and then the lady said he had better
leave her as she expected her husband back at any moment, and he might not
like him to be there; but the young man assured her she need not be
afraid, as he had with him a cap which would make him invisible. They were
still deep in conversation when the door suddenly opened, and a bird flew
in, but he saw nothing unusual, for, at the first noise, the youth had put
on his cap. The lady jumped up and brought a large golden basin, into
which the bird flew, reappearing directly after as a handsome man. Turning
to his wife, he cried, 'I am sure someone is in the room!' She got
frightened, and declared that she was quite alone, but her husband
persisted, and in the end she had to confess the truth.</p>
<p>'But if he is really your brother, why did you hide him?' asked he. 'I
believe you are telling me a lie, and if he comes back I shall kill him!'</p>
<p>At this the youth took off his cap, and came forward. Then the husband saw
that he was indeed so like his wife that he doubted her word no longer,
and embraced his brother-in-law with delight. Drawing a feather from his
bird's skin, he said, 'If you are in danger and cry, "Come and help me,
King of the Birds," everything will go well with you.'</p>
<p>The young man thanked him and went away, and after he had left the castle
he told the boots that they must take him to the place where his second
sister was living. As before, he found himself at the gates of a huge
castle, and within was his second sister, very happy with her husband, who
loved her dearly, but longing for the moment when he should be set free
from the spell that kept him half his life a fish. When he arrived and had
been introduced by his wife to her brother, he welcomed him warmly, and
gave him a fish-scale, saying, 'If you are in danger, call to me, "Come
and help me, King of the Fishes," and everything will go well with you.'</p>
<p>The young man thanked him and took his leave, and when he was outside the
gates he told the boots to take him to the place where his youngest sister
lived. The boots carried him to a dark cavern, with steps of iron leading
up to it. Inside she sat, weeping and sobbing, and as she had done nothing
else the whole time she had been there, the poor girl had grown very thin.
When she saw a man standing before her, she sprang to her feet and
exclaimed, 'Oh, whoever you are, save me and take me from this horrible
place!' Then he told her who he was, and how he had seen her sisters,
whose happiness was spoilt by the spell under which both their husbands
lay, and she, in turn, related her story. She had been carried off in the
water-meadow by a horrible monster, who wanted to make her marry him by
force, and had kept her a prisoner all these years because she would not
submit to his will. Every day he came to beg her to consent to his wishes,
and to remind her that there was no hope of her being set free, as he was
the most constant man in the world, and besides that he could never die.
At these words the youth remembered his two enchanted brothers-in-law, and
he advised his sister to promise to marry the old man, if he would tell
her why he could never die. Suddenly everything began to tremble, as if it
was shaken by a whirlwind, and the old man entered, and flinging himself
at the feet of the girl, he said: 'Are you still determined never to marry
me? If so you will have to sit there weeping till the end of the world,
for I shall always be faithful to my wish to marry you!' 'Well, I will
marry you,' she said, 'if you will tell me why it is that you can never
die.'</p>
<p>Then the old man burst into peals of laughter. 'Ah, ah, ah! You are
thinking how you would be able to kill me? Well, to do that, you would
have to find an iron casket which lies at the bottom of the sea, and has a
white dove inside, and then you would have to find the egg which the dove
laid, and bring it here, and dash it against my head.' And he laughed
again in his certainty that no one had ever got down to the bottom of the
sea, and that if they did, they would never find the casket, or be able to
open it. When he could speak once more, he said, 'Now you will be obliged
to marry me, as you know my secret.' But she begged so hard that the
wedding might be put off for three days, that he consented, and went away
rejoicing at his victory. When he had disappeared, the brother took off
the cap which had kept him invisible all this time, and told his sister
not to lose heart as he hoped in three days she would be free. Then he
drew on his boots, and wished himself at the seashore, and there he was
directly. Drawing out the fish-scale, he cried, 'Come and help me, King of
the Fishes!' and his brother-in-law swam up, and asked what he could do.
The young man related the story, and when he had finished his listener
summoned all the fishes to his presence. The last to arrive was a little
sardine, who apologised for being so late, but said she had hurt herself
by knocking her head against an iron casket that lay in the bottom of the
sea. The king ordered several of the largest and strongest of his subjects
to take the little sardine as a guide, and bring him the iron casket. They
soon returned with the box placed across their backs and laid it down
before him. Then the youth produced the key and said 'Key, open that box!'
and the key opened it, and though they were all crowding round, ready to
catch it, the white dove within flew away.</p>
<p>It was useless to go after it, and for a moment the young man's heart
sank. The next minute, however, he remembered that he had still his
feather, and drew it out crying, 'Come to me, King of the Birds!' and a
rushing noise was heard, and the King of the Birds perched on his
shoulder, and asked what he could do to help him. His brother-in-law told
him the whole story, and when he had finished the King of the Birds
commanded all his subjects to hasten to his presence. In an instant the
air was dark with birds of all sizes, and at the very last came the white
dove, apologising for being so late by saying that an old friend had
arrived at his nest, and he had been obliged to give him some dinner. The
King of the Birds ordered some of them to show the young man the white
dove's nest, and when they reached it, there lay the egg which was to
break the spell and set them all free. When it was safely in his pocket,
he told the boots to carry him straight to the cavern where his youngest
sister sat awaiting him.</p>
<p>Now it was already far on into the third day, which the old man had fixed
for the wedding, and when the youth reached the cavern with his cap on his
head, he found the monster there, urging the girl to keep her word and let
the marriage take place at once. At a sign from her brother she sat down
and invited the old monster to lay his head on her lap. He did so with
delight, and her brother standing behind her back passed her the egg
unseen. She took it, and dashed it straight at the horrible head, and the
monster started, and with a groan that people took for the rumblings of an
earthquake, he turned over and died.</p>
<p>As the breath went out of his body the husbands of the two eldest
daughters resumed their proper shapes, and, sending for their
mother-in-law, whose sorrow was so unexpectedly turned into joy, they had
a great feast, and the youngest sister was rich to the end of her days
with the treasures she found in the cave, collected by the monster.</p>
<p>[From the Portuguese.]</p>
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