In the end the brothers told him about the coverlet which , when one touched it , sounded so that it could be heard over eight kingdoms . Esben thought that this was the worst errand that he had had yet , but he could not do worse than fail , and so he would make the attempt . He again took his little white stick , set himself on it , and said , Fly quick , my little stick , Carry me across the stream . Next moment he was across the river and beside the witch 's house . It was evening , and the door was locked , but he knew the way down the chimney . When he had got into the house , however , the worst yet remained to do , for the coverlet was on the bed in which the witch lay and slept . He slipped into the room without either she or her daughter wakening ; but as soon as he touched the coverlet to take it it sounded so that it could be heard over eight kingdoms . The witch awoke , sprang out of bed , and caught hold of Esben . He struggled with her , but could not free himself , and the witch called to her daughter , ` Come and help me ; we shall put him into the little dark room to be fattened . Ho , ho ! now I have him ! ' Esben was now put into a little dark hole , where he neither saw sun nor moon , and there he was fed on sweet milk and nut-kernels . The daughter had enough to do cracking nuts for him , and at the end of fourteen days she had only one tooth left in her mouth ; she had broken all the rest with the nuts . In this time however , she had taken a liking to Esben , and would willingly have set him free , but could not . When some time had passed the witch told her daughter to go and cut a finger off Esben , so that she could see whether he was nearly fat enough yet . The daughter went and told Esben , and asked him what she should do . Esben told her to take an iron nail and wrap a piece of skin round it : she could then give her mother this to bite at . The daughter did so , but when the witch bit it she cried , ` Uh ! no , no ! This is nothing but skin and bone ; he must be fattened much longer yet . '
So Esben was fed for a while longer on sweet milk and nut-kernels , until one day the witch thought XXXXX now he must surely be fat enough , and told her daughter again to go and cut a finger off him .
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