“I am wiser than you in the world’s ways,—let me advise you. Cry with those pretty eyes, plead with your sweet voice, but not to the old count.”
“To whom?”
“To his son.”
“Will he influence his father?”
“Girl, I have taken a liking to you. You have a kind heart; I can see your disposition; I have met but few like you in the world. I will tell you what I will do. I will give you one of my white hens.”
“A hen?”
“Yes. Go with the hen to the castle and inquire for Bernard, the count’s son. Tell him that at daybreak the Count of Eberstein has planned an attack on the castle, and that you have come to warn him. Bid him fear nothing. Say that what he needs is a trench; and when he asks how one is to be made, tell him that you have brought him Scratch Gravel, the hen, who will immediately dig one for him.”
THE OLD WOMAN’S DIRECTIONS.