At night she said to the old man,—
"You must take my daughters, too, to that bridegroom in the forest. He will give them better gifts than these."
Things take time to happen, but the tale is quickly told. Early next morning the old woman woke her daughters, fed them with good food, dressed them like brides, hustled the old man, made him put clean hay in the sledge and warm blankets, and sent them off to the forest.
The old man did as he was bid—drove to the big fir tree, set the boxes under the tree, lifted out the stepdaughters and set them on the boxes side by side, and drove back home.
They were warmly dressed, these two, and well fed, and at first, as they sat there, they did not think about the cold.
"I can't think what put it into mother's head to marry us both at once," said the first, "and to send us here to be married. As if there were not enough young men in the village. Who can tell what sort of fellows we shall meet here!"
Then they began to quarrel.
"Well," says one of them, "I'm beginning to get the cold shivers. If our fated ones do not come soon, we shall perish of cold."
"It's a flat lie to say that bridegrooms get ready early. It's already dinner-time."