In the morning the kitchen-maid related what she had seen and heard,
and the King said that next Thursday night he himself would watch in
the kitchen and see if this were true, and when it had begun to grow
dark he went out into the kitchen to the girl. But though he rubbed his
eyes and did everything he could to keep himself awake it was all in
vain, for the Bushy Bride crooned and sang till his eyes were fast
closed, and when the beautiful young maiden came he was sound asleep
and snoring.
This time also, as before, she borrowed a brush and brushed her hair
with it, and the gold dropped down as she did it; and again she sent
the dog out three times, and when day dawned she departed, but as she
was going she said as she had said before, ‘I shall come once more, and
then never again.’
On the third Thursday night the King once more insisted on keeping
watch. Then he set two men to hold him; each of them was to take an
arm, and shake him and jerk him by the arm whenever he seemed to be
going to fall asleep; and he set two men to watch his Bushy Bride. But
as the night wore on the Bushy Bride again began to croon and to sing,
so that his eyes began to close and his head to droop on one side. Then
came the lovely maiden, and got the brush and brushed her hair till the
gold dropped from it, and then she sent her Little Snow out to see if
it would soon be day, and this she did three times. The third time it
was just beginning to grow light, and then she said:
‘Out on thee, ugly Bushy Bride,
Sleeping so soft by the young King’s side,
On sand and stones my bed I make,
And my brother sleeps with the cold snake,
Unpitied and unwept.’
‘Now I shall never come again,’ she said, and then she turned to go.
But the two men who were holding the King by the arms seized his hands
and forced a knife into his grasp, and then made him cut her little
finger just enough to make it bleed.
Thus the true bride was freed. The King then awoke, and she told him
all that had taken place, and how her step-mother and step-sister had
betrayed her. Then the brother was at once taken out of the
snake-pit—the snakes had never touched him—and the step-mother and
step-sister were flung down into it instead of him.
No one can tell how delighted the King was to get rid of that hideous
Bushy Bride, and get a Queen who was bright and beautiful as day
itself.
And now the real wedding was held, and held in such a way that it was
heard of and spoken about all over seven kingdoms. The King and his
bride drove to church, and Little Snow was in the carriage too. When
the blessing was given they went home again, and after that I saw no
more of them.[28]
[28] From J. Moe.