"Yes, yes, I am going to bring you something."
"Very well then, bring me a flower."
He goes off, and is busy buying and buying; for one a hat, for the
other a beautiful piece of stuff for a dress, and for the first again
a shawl; and he was returning home, when in passing before a beautiful
castle, he sees a garden quite full of flowers, and he says to himself:
"What! I was going home without a flower for my daughter; here I
shall have plenty of them."
He takes some then, and as soon as he has done so, a voice says to him:
"Who gave you permission to take that flower? As you have three
daughters, if you do not bring me one of them before the year be
finished, you shall be burnt wherever you are--you, and your whole
kingdom."
The king goes off home. He gives his elder daughters their presents,
and her nosegay to the youngest. She thanks her father. After a
certain time this king became sad. His eldest daughter said to him:
"What is the matter with you?"
He says to her: "If one of my daughters will not go to such a spot
before the end of the year, I shall be burned."
His eldest daughter answers him, "Be burned if you like; as for me,
I shall not go. I have no wish at all to go there. Settle it with
the others."
The second also asks him, "You seem very sad, papa; what is the matter
with you?"
He told her how he is bound to send one of his daughters to such a
place before the end of the year, otherwise he should be burned.
This one too says to him, "Manage your own business as you like,
but do not reckon upon me."
The youngest, after some days, said to him, "What is the matter with
you, my father, that you are so sad? Has someone done you some hurt?"
He said to her, "When I went to get your nosegay, a voice said to me,
'I must have one of your daughters before the year be completed,'
[155] and now I do not know what I must do. It told me that I shall
be burned."
This daughter said to him, "My father, do not be troubled about it. I
will go."
And she sets out immediately in a carriage. She arrives at the castle
and goes in, and she hears music and sounds of rejoicing everywhere,
and yet she did not see anyone. She finds her chocolate ready (in
the morning), and her dinner the same. She goes to bed, and still
she does not see anyone. The next morning a voice says to her:
"Shut your eyes; I wish to place my head on your knees for a moment."
"Come, come; I am not afraid."
There appears then an enormous serpent. Without intending it, the
young lady could not help giving a little shudder. An instant after
the serpent went away; and the young lady lived very happily, without
lacking anything. One day the voice asked her if she did not wish to
go home.