` Do n't be afraid , little girls , ' he said smiling kindly at them ; he could not laugh properly because his mouth was crooked . ` Welcome to my kingdom ! Have you slept well and eaten well and drunk well ? ' he asked . ` Yes , indeed we have , ' said both the girls , ` but tell us ... ' and they wanted to ask who the old man was , but were afraid to . ' I will tell you who I am , ' said the old man ; ' I am the raspberry king , who reigns over all this kingdom of raspberry bushes , and I have lived here for more than a thousand years . But the great spirit who rules over the woods , and the sea , and the sky , did not want me to become proud of my royal power and my long life . Therefore he decreed that one day in every hundred years I should change into a little raspberry worm , and live in that weak and helpless form from sunrise to sunset . During that time my life is dependent on the little worm 's life , so that a bird can eat me , a child can pick me with the berries and trample under foot my thousand years of life . Now yesterday was just my transformation day , and I was taken with the raspberry and would have been trampled to death if you had not saved my life . Until sunset I lay helpless in the grass , and when I was swept away from your table I twisted one of my feet , and my mouth became crooked with terror ; but when evening came and I could take my own form again , I looked for you to thank you and reward you . Then I found you both here in my kingdom , and tried to meet you both as well as I could without frightening you . Now I will send a bird from my wood to show you the way home . Good-bye , little children , thank you for your kind hearts ; the raspberry king can show that he is not ungrateful . ' The children shook hands with the old man and thanked him , feeling very glad that they had saved the little raspberry worm . They were just going when the old man turned round , smiled mischievously with his crooked mouth , and said : ` Greetings to Otto from me , and tell him when I meet him again I shall do him the honour of eating him up . ' ` Oh , please do n't do that , ' cried both the girls , very frightened . ` Well , for your sake I will forgive him , ' said the old man , ' I am not revengeful . Greetings to Otto and tell him that he may expect a gift from me , too . Good-bye . '
The two girls , light of heart , now took their berries and ran off through the wood after the bird ; and soon it began to get lighter XXXXX the wood and they wondered how they could have lost their way yesterday , it seemed so easy and plain now .
During as because for from in on over under without