now I shall never come again . ' With this it slipped out again , but in the meantime the cook had posted himself at the outer end of the drain with a net , which he threw over it as it came out . In this way he caught it , and came in to the others with the most beautiful duck they had ever seen -- with so many golden feathers on it that everyone marvelled . No one , however , knew what was to be done with it ; but after what they had heard they knew that there was something uncommon about it , so they took good care of it . At this time the brother in the serpent-pit dreamed that his right sister had come swimming to the king 's palace in the shape of a duck , and that she could not regain her own form until her beak was cut off . He got this dream told to some one , so that the king at last came to hear of it , and had him taken up out of the pit and brought before him . The king then asked him if he could produce to him his sister as beautiful as he had formerly described her . The brother said he could if they would bring him the duck and a knife . Both of them were brought to him , and he said , ' I wonder how you would look if I were to cut the point off your beak . ' With this he cut a piece off the beak , and there came a voice which said , ` Oh , oh , you cut my little finger ! ' Next moment Maiden Bright-eye stood there , as lovely and beautiful as he had seen her when he was home . This was his sister now , he said ; and the whole story now came out of how the other had behaved to her . The wicked sister was put into a barrel with spikes round it which was dragged off by six wild horses , and so she came to her end. : But the king was delighted with Maiden Bright-eye , and immediately made her his queen , while her brother became his prime minister . The Merry Wives From the Danish There lay three houses in a row , in one of which there lived a tailor , in another a carpenter , and in the third a smith . All three were married , and their wives were very good friends . They often talked about how stupid their husbands were , but they could never agree as to which of them had the most stupid one ; each one stuck up for her own husband , and maintained that it was he . The three wives went to church together every Sunday , and had a regular good gossip on the way , and when they were coming home from church they always turned into the tavern which lay by the wayside and drank half a pint together . This was at the time when half a pint of brandy cost threepence , so that was just a penny from each of them . But the brandy went up in price , and the taverner said that he must have fourpence for the half-pint . They were greatly annoyed at this , for there were only the three of them to share it , and none of them was willing to pay the extra penny .
As they went home from the church that day they decided to wager with each other as to whose husband was the most stupid , and the one who , on the following Sunday , should be judged to have played her husband the greatest trick should thereafter go free from paying , and each of the two others would give twopence for their Sunday 's XXXXX .
Bright-eye Danish beak end. fourpence half-pint right serpent-pit third threepence