So Boots and the two Princes climbed up each on the back of a wolf, and they were soon back at the castle; and Boots found his brothers, and their fair brides, and the Princess waiting for them. Then they all set out for the kingdom of their father, who was very glad to see them, to be sure. And Boots said: “I have brought back your sons to you, but I have brought back the fairest Princess in the seven kingdoms to be my own bride.”
Although the brides of the other Princes were very fair, yet all agreed that the bride of Boots was the most beautiful of all.
VIGGO AND BEATE[L]
Translated by Mrs. Gudrun Thorne-Thompson
THE DOLL UNDER THE BRIER ROSEBUSH
There was once a girl, and her name was Beate. On her birthday her father had given her a beautiful straw hat. Her mother had given her a pair of yellow shoes and the daintiest white dress. But her old aunt had given her the very best present of all; it was a doll, with a sweet face and dark brown curls.
Oh, how Beate grew to love that doll, almost more than she loved Marie and Louise, and they were her best friends.
One day Beate was walking in the yard with her doll in her arms. It had a name now, and they had become fast friends. She had called her Beate, her own name, and the name of her old aunt who had given her the present.
It was in the early Spring. There was a green spot in one corner of the yard around the old well. There stood a big willow tree with a low trunk, and it was covered with the little yellow blossoms that children call “goslings.”