The man thought the witch was really his wife , and he did not know that his wife was the sheep ; so he went home with her , glad at heart because his sheep was found . When they were safe at home the witch said to the man : ` Look here , old man , we must really kill that sheep lest it run away to the wood again . ' The man , who was a peaceable quiet sort of fellow , made no objections , but simply said : ` Good , let us do so . ' The daughter , however , had overheard their talk , and she ran to the flock and lamented aloud : ` Oh , dear little mother , they are going to slaughter you ! ' ` Well , then , if they do slaughter me , ' was the black sheep 's answer , ` eat you neither the meat nor the broth that is made of me , but gather all my bones , and bury them by the edge of the field . ' Shortly after this they took the black sheep from the flock and slaughtered it . The witch made pease-soup of it , and set it before the daughter . But the girl remembered her mother 's warning . She did not touch the soup , but she carried the bones to the edge of the field and buried them there ; and there sprang up on the spot a birch tree -- a very lovely birch tree . 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 XXXXX her mother 's grave , and cried and cried , because her mother lay dead beneath the sod and could help her no longer .
So after from if in into lest on though to