Soon afterwards a live coal flew out of the fire and
joined their company. Then the straw began to speak.
"Dear friends," said he, "whence come you?"
"I was fortunate enough to spring out of the fire," answered the
coal. "Had I not exerted myself to get out when I did, I should most
certainly have been burnt to ashes."
"I have also just managed to save my skin," said the bean. "Had the
old woman succeeded in putting me into the pot, I should have been
stewed without mercy, just as my comrades are being served now."
"My fate might have been no better," the straw told them. "The old
woman burnt sixty of my brothers at once, but fortunately I was able
to slip through her fingers."
"What shall we do now?" said the coal.
"Well," answered the bean, "my opinion is that, as we have all been
so fortunate as to escape death, we should leave this place before
any new misfortune overtakes us. Let us all three become traveling
companions and set out upon a journey to some unknown country."
This suggestion pleased both the straw and the coal, so away they all
went at once. Before long they came to a brook, and as there was no
bridge across it they did not know how to get to the other side; but
the straw had a good idea: "I will lay myself over the water, and
you can walk across me as though I were a bridge," he said.
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