The girl was so obedient that she put on the paper dress and set out with her little basket . There was nothing but snow far and near , and not a green blade of grass to be seen anywhere . When she came to the wood she saw a little house , and out of it peeped three little dwarfs . She wished them good-day , and knocked modestly at the door . They called out to her to enter , so she stepped in and sat down on a seat by the fire , wishing to warm herself and eat her breakfast . The Dwarfs said at once : ` Give us some of your food ! ' ` Gladly , ' she said , and breaking her crust in two , she gave them the half . Then they asked her what she was doing in the depths of winter in her thin dress . ` Oh , ' she answered , ' I have been sent to get a basketful of strawberries , and I dare n't show my face again at home till I bring them with me . ' When she had finished her bread they gave her a broom and told her to sweep away the snow from the back door . As soon as she left the room to do so , the three little men consulted what they should give her as a reward for being so sweet and good , and for sharing her last crust with them . The first said : ` Every day she shall grow prettier . ' The second : ` Every time she opens her mouth a piece of gold shall fall out . ' And the third : ' A King shall come and marry her . ' The girl in the meantime was doing as the Dwarfs had bidden her , and was sweeping the snow away from the back door , and what do you think she found there ? -- heaps of fine ripe strawberries that showed out dark red against the white snow . She joyfully picked enough to fill her basket , thanked the little men for their kindness , shook hands with them , and ran home to bring her stepmother what she had asked for . When she walked in and said ; Good evening , ' a piece of gold fell out of her mouth . Then she told what had hap-pened to her in the wood , and at every word pieces of gold dropped from her mouth , so that the room was soon covered with them . ` She 's surely more money than wit to throw gold about like that , ' said her stepsister , but in her secret heart she was very jealous , and determined that she too would go to the wood and look for strawberries .
But her mother refused to let her go , saying : ` My dear child , it is far too cold ; you might freeze XXXXX death . '
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