But see that the back of the sword is ever against your nose , else when your stepmother beholds you , she will change you into a dry faggot . If , however , you do as I bid you , she will become herself a bundle of sticks . ' Ian Direach hearkened to the words of Gille Mairtean , and his stepmother fell as a bundle of sticks before him ; and he set fire to her , and was free from her spells for ever . After that he married the princess , who was the best wife in all the islands of the West . Henceforth he was safe from harm , for had he not the bay colt who could leave one wind behind her and catch the other wind , and the blue falcon to bring him game to eat , and the White Sword of Light to pierce through his foes ? And Ian Direach knew that all this he owed to Gille Mairtean the fox , and he made a compact with him that he might choose any beast out of his herds , whenever hunger seized him , and that henceforth no arrow should be let fly at him or at any of his race . But Gille Mairtean the fox would take no reward for the help he had given to Ian Direach , only his friendship . Thus all things prospered with Ian Direach till he died . The Ugly Duckling -LSB- From Tales of the West Highlands . -RSB- It was summer in the land of Denmark , and though for most of the year the country looks flat and ugly , it was beautiful now . The wheat was yellow , the oats were green , the hay was dry and delicious to roll in , and from the old ruined house which nobody lived in , down to the edge of the canal , was a forest of great burdocks , so tall that a whole family of children might have dwelt in them and never have been found out . It was under these burdocks that a duck had built herself a warm nest , and was not sitting all day on six pretty eggs . Five of them were white , but the sixth , which was larger than the others , was of an ugly grey colour . The duck was always puzzled about that egg , and how it came to be so different from the rest . Other birds might have thought that when the duck went down in the morning and evening to the water to stretch her legs in a good swim , some lazy mother might have been on the watch , and have popped her egg into the nest . But ducks are not clever at all , and are not quick at counting , so this duck did not worry herself about the matter , but just took care that the big egg should be as warm as the rest . This was the first set of eggs that the duck had ever laid , and , to begin with , she was very pleased and proud , and laughed at the other mothers , who were always neglecting their duties to gossip with each other or to take little extra swims besides the two in the morning and evening that were necessary for health . But at length she grew tired of sitting there all day . ` Surely eggs take longer hatching than they did , ' she said to herself ; and she pined for a little amusement also . Still , she knew that if she left her eggs and the ducklings in them to die none of her friends would ever speak to her again ; so there she stayed , only getting off the eggs several times a day to see if the shells were cracking -- which may have been the very reason why they did not crack sooner .
She had looked at the eggs at least a hundred and fifty times , when , to her joy , she saw a tiny crack on two of them , and scrambling back XXXXX the nest she drew the eggs closer the one to the other , and never moved for the whole of that day .
If about behind for in into of than to under