` Ay , ay , your own wife is not at home , ' said the widow woman ; ` she is living like a reindeer in the wood ; you have the witch 's daughter for a wife now , and the witch herself for a mother-in-law . ' ` Is there any way of getting my own wife back from the wood again ? ' asked the Prince . ` Give me the child , ' answered the widow woman . ` I 'll take it with me to-morrow when I go to drive the cows to the wood . I 'll make a rustling among the birch leaves and a trembling among the aspens -- perhaps the boy will grow quiet when he hears it . ' ` Yes , take the child away , take it to the wood with you to quiet it , ' said the Prince , and led the widow woman into the castle . ` How now ? you are going to send the child away to the wood ? ' said the witch in a suspicious tone , and tried to interfere . But the King 's son stood firm by what he had commanded , and said : ` Carry the child about the wood ; perhaps that will pacify it . ' So the widow woman took the child to the wood . She came to the edge of a marsh , and seeing a herd of reindeer there , she began all at once to sing -- ` Little Bright-eyes , little Redskin , Come nurse the child you bore ! That bloodthirsty monster , That man-eater grim , Shall nurse him , shall tend him no more . They may threaten and force as they will , He turns from her , shrinks from her still , ' and immediately the reindeer drew near , and nursed and tended the child the whole day long ; but at nightfall it had to follow the herd , and said to the widow woman : ` Bring me the child to-morrow , and again the following day ; after that I must wander with the herd far away to other lands . ' The following morning the widow woman went back to the castle to fetch the child . The witch interfered , of course , but the Prince said : ` Take it , and carry it about in the open air ; the boy is quieter at night , to be sure , when he has been in the wood all day . ' So the widow took the child in her arms , and carried it to the marsh in the forest . There she sang as on the preceding day -- ` Little Bright-eyes , little Redskin , Come nurse the child you bore ! That bloodthirsty monster , That man-eater grim , Shall nurse him , shall tend him no more .
They may threaten and force as they will , He turns from her , shrinks from her still , ' and immediately the reindeer left the herd and came XXXXX the child , and tended it as on the day before .
So among at by for into like on to with