He arrayed her in a robe,
embroidered in silver and gold, and decked her with sparkling
diamonds. She glittered and shone, and was dazzling to behold. Then
placing her in his sleigh, he wrapped her in furs; and six white
horses bore them swiftly away.
The stepmother, at home, was baking pancakes for the girl's funeral
feast. "Go in the field," she said to her husband, "and bring your
daughter's body home, so we can bury her." The old man rose to obey,
when the little dog barked:
"Your daughter shall not die;
Her's cold and stiff shall lie."
The woman kicked the dog, then tried to coax it with a pancake,
telling it to say:
"Her daughter shall have gold;
His be frozen stiff and cold."
When the little dog had swallowed the pancake, he barked:
"His daughter shall be wed;
Her's shall be frozen dead."
The woman beat the dog, then coaxed it with more pancakes; but the
blows could not terrify it nor food persuade. It barked always the
same. Suddenly the door opened, and a huge chest was thrust into the
room, followed by the radiant stepdaughter, in a dress that dazzled
them with its beauty.
As soon as the stepmother recovered from her astonishment, she
ordered her husband to yoke the horses to the sledge, and take her own
daughter to the field.
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