"Bad luck to you, Smallhead!" said she, "I did not know that it was you that was in it last evening. You have killed my three daughters."
"It wasn't I that killed them, but yourself," said Smallhead.
The old hag could not cross the bridge, so she began to curse, and she put every curse on Smallhead that she could remember. The sisters travelled on till they came to a King's castle. They heard that two servants were needed in the castle.
"Go now," said Smallhead to the two sisters, "and ask for service. Be faithful and do well. You can never go back by the road you came."
The two found employment at the King's castle. Smallhead took lodgings in the house of a blacksmith near by.
"I should be glad to find a place as kitchen-maid in the castle," said Smallhead to the blacksmith's wife.
"I will go to the castle and find a place for you if I can," said the woman.
The blacksmith's wife found a place for Smallhead as kitchen-maid in the castle, and she went there next day.
"I must be careful," thought Smallhead, "and do my best. I am in a strange place. My two sisters are here in the King's castle. Who knows, we may have great fortune yet."
She dressed neatly and was cheerful. Every one liked her, liked her better than her sisters, though they were beautiful. The King had two sons, one at home and the other abroad. Smallhead thought to herself one day: "It is time for the son who is here in the castle to marry. I will speak to him the first time I can." One day she saw him alone in the garden, went up to him, and said: