` Ah , be quiet , child , ' replied the lady ; ` you do not know what I would do to make you happy . Now you are a woman , and I have no right to keep you here . You must return to the world of men , where joy awaits you . ' ` Dear lady , ' entreated Elsa again . ` Do not , I beseech you , send me from you . I want no other happiness but to live and die beside you . Make me your waiting maid , or set me to any work you choose , but do not cast me forth into the world . It would have been better if you had left me with my stepmother , than first to have brought me to heaven and then send me back to a worse place . ' ` Do not talk like that , dear child , ' replied the lady ; ` you do not know all that must be done to secure your happiness , however much it costs me . But it has to be . You are only a common mortal , who will have to die one day , and you can not stay here any longer . Though we have the bodies of men , we are not men at all , though it is not easy for you to understand why . Some day or other you will find a husband who has been made expressly for you , and will live happily with him till death separates you . It will be very hard for me to part from you , but it has to be , and you must make up your mind to it . ' Then she drew her golden comb gently through Elsa 's hair , and bade her go to bed ; but little sleep had the poor girl ! Life seemed to stretch before her like a dark starless night . Now let us look back a moment , and see what had been going on in Elsa 's native village all these years , and how her double had fared . It is a well-known fact that a bad woman seldom becomes better as she grows older , and Elsa 's stepmother was no exception to the rule ; but as the figure that had taken the girl 's place could feel no pain , the blows that were showered on her night and day made no difference . If the father ever tried to come to his daughter 's help , his wife turned upon him , and things were rather worse than before . One day the stepmother had given the girl a frightful beating , and then threatened to kill her outright .
Mad XXXXX rage , she seized the figure by the throat with both hands , when out came a black snake from her mouth and stung the woman 's tongue , and she fell dead without a sound .
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