As for the witch Step-mother, she was well content with what she had done, for the two crows sat on the thorn-tree. And—
“Look,” said the first, “yonder goes the beauty.”
“It is the truth that you speak,” said the second. “For the other followed the golden ball and fell into the deep pit!” And then they clapped their wings and away they flew.
But the poor girl lay in the deep pit all alone, and cried and cried.
Suddenly a little door opened—click! clack!—and there was a little grey man no higher than a body’s knee, but with a long white beard that touched the ground.
“Hi!” says he to the step-daughter, “and how came you here in the pit?”
The girl told him all from beginning to end, and the little man listened to every word.
“See, now,” said he, when she had ended her story. “Since you are here in the deep pit and cannot get out, you shall be the queen of all the little men like myself, and we shall serve you, for you are the most beautiful maiden that ever my eyes looked upon.”
So there the maiden lived for many a long day, and the little man and others like him brought her rich food and wine, and covered all the inside of the pit with jewels and with gold, so that it was most splendid to see. And every day the maiden grew more and more beautiful.