“What are your children like?” asked the man.
“Mine are the prettiest children in the forest,” answered the woodcock.
“I suppose I mustn’t shoot them, then,” said the man.
When he came back he carried in his hand a whole string of young woodcocks which he had shot.
“Oh, dear, oh, dear! Why, you have shot my children after all!” wept the woodcock.
“Are these yours?” said the man. “Why, I shot the ugliest I could find.”
“Yes, yes,” answered the woodcock; “but don’t you know that every one thinks his own children the prettiest?”
The Princess Whom Nobody Could Silence
There was once upon a time a king, and he had a daughter who would always have the last word; she was so perverse and contrary in her speech that no one could silence her. So the king therefore promised that he who could outwit the Princess should have her in marriage and half the kingdom besides. There were plenty of those who wanted to try, I can assure you; for it isn’t every day that a princess and half a kingdom are to be had.
The gate to the palace hardly ever stood still. The suitors came in swarms and flocks from east and west, both riding and walking. But there was no one who could silence the Princess. At last the king announced that those who tried and did not succeed should be branded on both ears with a large iron; he would not have all this running about the palace for nothing.