When the witch had gone off another way, the little girl went on again,
and when she was near the oven she heard the witch coming after her
again, so she ran to the oven and cried:
"Oven, oven, hide me,
So the old witch can't find me;
If she does she'll break my bones,
And bury me under the marble stones."
And the oven said, "I've no room, ask the baker," and the baker hid her
behind the oven.
When the witch came up she looked here and there and everywhere, and
then said to the baker:
"Man of mine, man of mine,
Have you seen a girl,
With a willy-willy wag, and a long-tailed bag,
Who's stole my money, all I had?"
So the baker said, "Look in the oven." The old witch went to look, and
the oven said, "Get in and look in the furthest corner." The witch did
so, and when she was inside the oven shut her door, and the witch was
kept there for a very long time.
The girl then went off again, and reached her home with her money bags,
married a rich man, and lived happy ever afterwards.
The other sister then thought she would go and do the same. And she went
the same way. But when she reached the oven, and the bread said, "Little
girl, little girl, take us out. Seven years have we been baking, and no
one has come to take us out," the girl said, "No, I don't want to burn
my fingers." So she went on till she met the cow, and the cow said,
"Little girl, little girl, milk me, milk me, do. Seven years have I been
waiting, and no one has come to milk me." But the girl said, "No, I
can't milk you, I'm in a hurry," and went on faster. Then she came to
the apple-tree, and the apple-tree asked her to help shake the fruit.
"No, I can't; another day p'raps I may," and went on till she came to
the witch's house. Well, it happened to her just the same as to the
other girl--she forgot what she was told, and one day when the witch was
out, looked up the chimney, and down fell a bag of money. Well, she
thought she would be off at once. When she reached the apple-tree, she
heard the witch coming after her, and she cried:
"Apple-tree, apple-tree, hide me,
So the old witch can't find me;
If she does she'll break my bones,
And bury me under the marble stones."
But the tree didn't answer, and she ran on further. Presently the witch
came up and said:
"Tree of mine, tree of mine,
Have you seen a girl,
With a willy-willy wag, and a long-tailed bag,
Who's stole my money, all I had?"