Then the Hunter did as the old woman had told him : he cut open the bird , found its heart , swallowed it , and took the cloak home with him . The next morning when he awoke he remembered the promise , and wanted to see if it had come true . But when he lifted up his pillow , there sparkled the gold piece , and the next morning he found another , and so on every time he got up . He collected a heap of gold , but at last he thought to himself , ` What good is all my gold to me if I stay at home ? I will travel and look a bit about me in the world . ' So he took leave of his parents , slung his hunting knapsack and his gun round him , and journeyed into the world . It happened that one day he went through a thick wood , and when he came to the end of it there lay in the plain before him a large castle . At one of the windows in it stood an old woman with a most beautiful maiden by her side , looking out . But the old woman was a witch , and she said to the girl , ` There comes one out of the wood who has a wonderful treasure in his body which we must manage to possess ourselves of , darling daughter ; we have more right to it than he . He has a bird 's heart in him , and so every morning there lies a gold piece under his pillow . ' She told her how they could get hold of it , and how she was to coax it from him , and at last threatened her angrily , saying , ` And if you do not obey me , you shall repent it ! ' When the Hunter came nearer he saw the maiden , and said to himself , ' I have travelled so far now that I will rest , and turn into this beautiful castle ; money I have in plenty . ' But the real reason was that he had caught sight of the lovely face . He went into the house , and was kindly received and hospitably entertained . It was not long before he was so much in love with the witch-maiden that he thought of nothing else , and only looked in her eyes , and whatever she wanted , that he gladly did . Then the old witch said , ` Now we must have the bird-heart ; he will not feel when it is gone . ' She prepared a drink , and when it was ready she poured it in a goblet and gave it to the maiden , who had to hand it to the hunter . ` Drink to me now , my dearest , ' she said . Then he took the goblet , and when he had swallowed the drink the bird-heart came out of his mouth . The maiden had to get hold of it secretly and then swallow it herself , for the old witch wanted to have it .
Thenceforward he found no more gold XXXXX his pillow , and it lay under the maiden 's ; but he was so much in love and so much bewitched that he thought of nothing except spending all his time with the maiden .
about by from if into nearer that through to under