He answered: 'I am a messenger from the King. He sent me to find the
rarest salad which grows under the sun. I have been lucky enough to
find it, and I carry it with me. But the sun is so burning, that I am
afraid the tender plant will be withered, and I don't know if I shall
be able to take it any further.'
When the Old Witch heard about the rare salad, she felt a great desire
to have some, and said: 'Good countryman, let me try the wonderful
salad!'
'By all means,' he answered. 'I have two heads with me, and you shall
have one.' So saying, he opened his sack, and handed her the bad one.
The Witch had no suspicions, and her mouth so watered for the new
dish, that she went to the kitchen herself to prepare it.
When it was ready, she could not wait till it was put upon the table,
but put a few leaves into her mouth at once.
Hardly had she swallowed them, when she lost her human shape, and ran
out into the courtyard, as an old she-ass.
Then the Maid came into the kitchen, saw the salad standing ready, and
was about to put it on the table. But on the way the fancy seized her
to taste it, according to her usual habit, and she ate a few leaves.
The power of the salad at once became apparent, because she also
turned into an ass, and ran out into the yard to join the Old Witch,
while the dish of salad fell to the ground.
In the meantime the messenger was sitting with the beautiful Maiden,
and as no one appeared with the salad, she also was seized with a
desire to taste it, and said: 'I don't know what has become of the
salad.'
But the Huntsman thought: 'The plant must have done its work,' and
said: 'I will go into the kitchen and see.'
As soon as he got downstairs he saw the two asses running about, and
the salad lying on the ground.
'This is all right!' he said; 'two of them are done for.'
Then he picked up the leaves, put them on a dish, and took them to the
Maiden.
'I am bringing the precious food to you myself,' said he, 'so that you
may not have to wait any longer.'
She ate some, and, like the others, was immediately changed into an
ass, and ran out to them in the yard.
[Illustration: He tied them all together and drove them along till
he came to a mill.]
When the Huntsman had washed his face so that the transformed
creatures might know him, he went into the courtyard, and said: 'Now,
you shall be paid for your treachery.'
He tied them all together with a rope, and drove them along till he
came to a mill. He tapped at the window, and the Miller put his head
out and asked what he wanted.
'I have three bad animals here,' he said, 'that I want to get rid of.
If you will take them and feed them, and treat them as I wish, I will
pay you what you like to ask.'
'Why not?' said the Miller. 'How do you want them treated?'
The Huntsman said he wanted the old she-ass (the Witch) to be well
beaten three times a day and fed once. The younger one, which was the
Maid, beaten once and fed three times. The youngest of all, who was
the beautiful Maiden, was to be fed three times, and not beaten at
all; he could not find it in his heart to have her beaten.
Then he went back to the castle and found everything he wanted in it.
A few days later the Miller came and told him that the old ass which
was to be beaten three times and fed once, was dead. 'The other two,'
he said, 'which are to be fed three times, are not dead, but they are
pining away, and won't last long.'
The Huntsman's heart was stirred with pity, and he told the Miller to
bring them back to him.
When they came he gave them some of the other salad to eat, so that
they took their human shapes again.
The beautiful Maiden fell on her knees before him, and said: 'O my
beloved, forgive me all the wrong I have done you. My mother forced me
to do it. It was against my own will, for I love you dearly. Your
wishing-cloak is hanging in the cupboard, and you shall have the
bird's heart back too.'
But he said: 'Keep it; it will be all the same, as I will take you to
be my own true wife.'
Their marriage was soon after celebrated, and they lived happily
together till they died.