But alas ! the world of the air seemed as empty of her as the world below , and Souci was beginning to despair , and to think that he must go and search the world that lay in the sea . He was floating sadly along , not paying any heed to where he was going , when he saw in the distance a beautiful , bright sort of bird coming towards him . His heart beat fast -- he did not know why -- and as they both drew near the voice of the princess exclaimed , ` Behold the bird without feathers and the bridge without an arch ! ' So their first meeting took place in the air , but it was none the less happy for that ; and the fan grew big enough to hold the king as well as Aveline , who had hastened to give them some good advice . She guided the fan above the spot where the two armies lay encamped before each other ready to give battle . The fight was long and bloody , but in the end the Iron King was obliged to give way and surrender to the princess , who set him to keep King Souci 's sheep , first making him swear a solemn oath that he would treat them kindly . Then the marriage took place , in the presence of Girouette , whom they had the greatest trouble to find , and who was much astonished to discover how much business had been got through in her absence . Maiden Bright-eye From the Danish Once , upon a time there was a man and his wife who had two children , a boy and a girl . The wife died , and the man married again . His new wife had an only daughter , who was both ugly and untidy , whereas her stepdaughter was a beautiful girl , and was known as Maiden Bright-eye . Her stepmother was very cruel to her on this account ; she had always to do the hardest work , and got very little to eat , and no attention paid to her ; but to her own daughter she was all that was good . She was spared from all the hardest of the housework , and had always the prettiest clothes to wear . Maiden Bright-eye had also to watch the sheep , but of course it would never do to let her go idle and enjoy herself too much at this work , so she had to pull heather while she was out on the moors with them . Her stepmother gave her pancakes to take with her for her dinner , but she had mixed the flour with ashes , and made them just as bad as she could . The little girl came out on the moor and began to pull heather on the side of a little mound , but next minute a little fellow with a red cap on his head popped up out of the mound and said : ` Who 's that pulling the roof off my house ? ' ` Oh , it 's me , a poor little girl , ' said she ; ` my mother sent me out here , and told me to pull heather . If you will be good to me I will give you a bit of my dinner . ' The little fellow was quite willing , and she gave him the biggest share of her pancakes . They were not particularly good , but when one is hungry anything tastes well .
After he had got them all eaten he said to her : ` Now , I shall give you three wishes , for you are a very nice little girl ; but I will choose the wishes XXXXX you .
From So above as at before for on upon whereas