Some time had passed away -- who can tell how long they might have been living there ? -- when the witch , to whom a child had been born in the meantime , began to take an ill-will to the man 's daughter , and to torment her in all sorts of ways . Now it happened that a great festival was to be held at the palace , and the King had commanded that all the people should be invited , and that this proclamation should be made : ` Come , people all ! Poor and wretched , one and all ! Blind and crippled though ye be , Mount your steeds or come by sea . ' And so they drove into the King 's feast all the outcasts , and the maimed , and the halt , and the blind . In the good man 's house , too , preparations were made to go to the palace . The witch said to the man : ` Go you on in front , old man , with our youngest ; I will give the elder girl work to keep her from being dull in our absence . ' So the man took the child and set out . But the witch kindled a fire on the hearth , threw a potful of barleycorns among the cinders , and said to the girl : ` If you have not picked the barley out of the ashes , and put it all back in the pot before nightfall , I shall eat you up ! ' Then she hastened after the others , and the poor girl stayed at home and wept . She tried to be sure to pick up the grains of barley , but she soon saw how useless her labour was ; and so she went in her sore trouble to the birch tree on her mother 's grave , and cried and cried , because her mother lay dead beneath the sod and could help her no longer . In the midst of her grief she suddenly heard her mother 's voice speak from the grave , and say to her : ` Why do you weep , little daughter ? ' ` The witch has scattered barleycorns on the hearth , and bid me pick them out of the ashes , ' said the girl ; ` that is why I weep , dear little mother . ' ` Do not weep , ' said her mother consolingly . ` Break off one of my branches , and strike the hearth with it crosswise , and all will be put right . ' The girl did so . She struck the hearth with the birchen branch , and lo ! the barleycorns flew into the pot , and the hearth was clean . Then she went back to the birch tree and laid the branch upon the grave .
Then her mother bade her bathe on one side of the stem , dry herself on another , and dress XXXXX the third .
So at because beneath from in into on though to