Blue Beard dragged him out. Immediately after, the King ordered the old witch in.
“Tell the story of the lost story,” ordered the King.
“Oh, S-Sir,” stammered the old witch, “Oh, S-Sir, the pirate st-stole it, and took it on his sh-ship, and I st-stole it from him and put it in a bottle, and was going to bring it back, but I lost it overboard in a st-storm. I didn’t want the pirate to know I took it, for he would have beaten me to death.”
“Why did you try to take it from this young lady?” asked the Queen.
The old witch hung her head. “Because I wanted to keep it for my-s-self,” she said.
“Well, what shall her punishment be, my dear?” asked the King.
“She shall be punished by never hearing the end of a story,” declared the Queen. “Only to the middle of a story shall she hear—never to the end.”
Then the old witch gave a loud shriek, and ran out of the room as fast as she could. The King sent a giant after her, and had him lock both the pirate and the old witch up in big iron baskets, and carry them off to the end of Snowwhere.
“And now, my dear,” said the King, “what is to be our dear little friend’s reward?”
“Two rewards shall be hers,” replied the Queen. “One is that she shall know that all the children of the world can have new stories every day; and the other is that she can stay with us for a visit and hear all the stories she wishes to hear.”