` No , thank you , I will try myself , ' said the Princess , and she went away to the fireplace and put some ashes on the ring . So the ring came off and was lost among the ashes . Farmer Weatherbeard changed himself into a hare , which scratched and scraped about in the fireplace after the ring until the ashes were up to its ears . But Jack changed himself into a fox , and bit the hare 's head off , and if Farmer Weatherbeard was possessed by the evil one all was now over with him . -LRB- 25 -RRB- -LRB- 25 -RRB- From P. C. Asbjornsen . MOTHER HOLLE ONCE upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters ; one of them was pretty and clever , and the other ugly and lazy . But as the ugly one was her own daughter , she liked her far the best of the two , and the pretty one had to do all the work of the house , and was in fact the regular maid of all work . Every day she had to sit by a well on the high road , and spin till her fingers were so sore that they often bled . One day some drops of blood fell on her spindle , so she dipped it into the well meaning to wash it , but , as luck would have it , it dropped from her hand and fell right in . She ran weeping to her stepmother , and told her what had happened , but she scolded her harshly , and was so merciless in her anger that she said : ` Well , since you 've dropped the spindle down , you must just go after it yourself , and do n't let me see your face again until you bring it with you . ' Then the poor girl returned to the well , and not knowing what she was about , in the despair and misery of her heart she sprang into the well and sank to the bottom . For a time she lost all consciousness , and when she came to herself again she was lying in a lovely meadow , with the sun shining brightly overhead , and a thousand flowers blooming at her feet . She rose up and wandered through this enchanted place , till she came to a baker 's oven full of bread , and the bread called out to her as she passed : ` Oh ! take me out , take me out , or I shall be burnt to a cinder . I am quite done enough . ' So she stepped up quickly to the oven and took out all the loaves one after the other . Then she went on a little farther and came to a tree laden with beautiful rosy-cheeked apples , and as she passed by it called out : ` Oh I shake me , shake me , my apples are all quite ripe . ' She did as she was asked , and shook the tree till the apples fell like rain and none were left hanging . When she had gathered them all up into a heap she went on her way again , and came at length to a little house , at the door of which sat an old woman . The old dame had such large teeth that the girl felt frightened and wanted to run away , but the old woman called after her : ` What are you afraid of , dear child ?
Stay with me and be my little maid , and if you do your work well I will reward you handsomely ; but you must be very careful how you make my bed -- you must shake it well XXXXX the feathers fly ; then people in the world below say it snows , for I am Mother Holle . '
For after as at by into since that till upon