She thought and thought , and tried in vain to climb up to the door . Then suddenly she be-thought her of the chicken bones that she had dragged all that weary way , and she said to herself : ` They would not all have told me to take such good care of these bones if they had not had some good reason for doing so . Perhaps now , in my hour of need , they may be of use to me . ' So she took the bones out of her bundle , and having thought for a moment , she placed the two ends together . To her surprise they stuck tight ; then she added the other bones , till she had two long poles the height of the house ; these she placed against the wall , at a distance of a yard from one another . Across them she placed the other bones , piece by piece , like the steps of a ladder . As soon as one step was finished she stood upon it and made the next one , and then the next , till she was close to the door . But just as she got near the top she noticed that there were no bones left for the last rung of the ladder . What was she to do ? Without that last step the whole ladder was useless . She must have lost one of the bones . Then suddenly an idea came to her . Taking a knife she chopped off her little finger , and placing it on the last step , it stuck as the bones had done . The ladder was complete , and with her child on her arm she entered the door of the house . Here she found everything in perfect order . Having taken some food , she laid the child down to sleep in a trough that was on the floor , and sat down herself to rest . When her husband , the Pig , came back to his house , he was startled by what he saw . At first he could not believe his eyes , and stared at the ladder of bones , and at the little finger on the top of it . He felt that some fresh magic must be at work , and in his terror he almost turned away from the house ; but then a better idea came to him , and he changed himself into a dove , so that no witchcraft could have power over him , and flew into the room without touching the ladder . Here he found a woman rocking a child .
At the sight of her , looking so changed by all that she had suffered for his sake , his heart was moved by such love and longing and XXXXX so great a pity that he suddenly became a man .
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