“The one whose puppy grows into the most beautiful dog shall be my
bride.”
So the three women took their puppies, and brushed them and combed them
and washed them and fed them, till they were so fat they could hardly
move; but the poor girl let hers run away.
The women came and mocked her as before, but all she could say was
“Baa, baa!”
Again it was the eve of the day when they were to appear before the
prince, and again the girl sat sobbing in her stable and calling
“Tassa, Tassa!”
“What do you want, ugly wench?”
“My dog has run away, and to-morrow we go before the king.”
“Take this walnut, and crack it as you did the filbert. But you don’t
deserve to be helped.”
The next day the whole court was assembled again. The three women
presented their dogs, which waddled about and behaved very dirtily and
badly.
“And what have you done?” said the prince to the girl.
“Baa, baa,” said she, and cracked the walnut. Out jumped the most
lovely tiny dog, with a golden collar and golden tinkling bells; he
fawned upon the king and the prince, and quite won their hearts by his
pretty manners.
“One more trial,” said the prince. “All appear before me again in a
week’s time, and I will marry the most beautiful.”
All that week the three women washed themselves, and scented
themselves, and rubbed themselves till they rubbed the skin off, and
pomaded their hair till it shone like a looking-glass; but the girl sat
among the sheep and wept.
On the last day of the week the women began to put on their fine
dresses and ornaments; and the unhappy girl sobbed more bitterly than
ever, and called out, “Tassa, Tassa!”
“What do you want, pretty maiden?”
“To-morrow we go before the prince. What shall I do?”
“Go with the others: and if he marries you don’t forget to say good-bye
to me.”
The next morning the three women with their grand dresses, and their
pomade, and their scent, strutted boldly in before the court and the
prince.
“Go to the stable and bring the fourth,” commanded the prince: and one
of the courtiers went down.
Soon the door opened and the room was filled with a blaze of light, as
the beautiful maiden, sheep no longer, entered and knelt humbly before
the king.
“That is my bride,” said the prince, as he raised her and kissed her:
“You others may go.”
So a grand wedding-feast was prepared, and this time the girl did not
forget to say good-bye to the fairy who had been so kind to her.