“Go, bring her,” said the old man, “and call on me again; I will give her a dress.”
The woman went and brought her daughter to the fountain. As soon as she uttered the word “Tush!” the old man came out. He took the maiden into the fountain and never came back, in spite of the repeated exclamations of the woman, who tired of repeating, “Tush! Tush!” At last she gave up hope, and going home mourned the wonderful disappearance of her pretty daughter. After one or two months she went again to the fountain and uttered the word “Tush!” The old man came out, and seeing the woman he turned toward the fountain, saying:
“Halloo! son, your mother-in-law has come to call on her daughter. Won’t you send her out?”
“Certainly,” said a voice from within. “I will send her to pay a visit to her mother, as is the custom.”
In a few minutes the anxious mother saw her daughter come out from the fountain dressed as a beautiful bride, and she took her home.
“Mamma,” said the bride, “give me a separate room; my husband told me that he will come to me every night.”
The mother gave her a separate room. The bridegroom visited her every night in the shape of a partridge. He used to come after nightfall, and flapping his wings, perch on the window ledge. She opened the window and took him in. Every morning the partridge flew away before dawn. Her two sisters, envious of the happiness of their youngest sister, brought razors and nailed them around the window. At nightfall the partridge came flying, and when he was perching on the window he struck his wings against the razors, which wounded his body in several places. He was hardly able to fly back to his fountain, and there he was confined to his bed. He vowed to be revenged upon his bride, who he thought had put the razors on the window. The bride, seeing that the partridge did not come for five or six days, went with her mother to the fountain.
“Tush!” they called, and lo! the old man came out, and turning to the fountain, exclaimed:
“Son, your bride and mother-in-law have come.”
“Oh! oh!” cried the partridge from within, “I do not want such a bride. I beseech you, put on your eagle’s suit, take her to the seventh heaven, and thence cast her to the torrid desert.”