The evening sun shone on the glittering stones, which looked so
beautiful in all their colours, that the children could not help
standing still to gaze.
"Why do you stand there gaping?" cried the dwarf, his ash-coloured
face turning vermilion with anger.
With these cross words he was going away, when he heard a loud
roaring, and a black bear trotted out of the wood towards them. The
dwarf sprang up terrified, but he could not get to his lurking hole
again--the bear was already close upon him. Then he called out in
anguish,--
"Dear Mr. Bear, spare me, and you shall have all my treasures; look
at the beautiful precious stones that lie there. Give me my life! for
what do you want with a poor thin little fellow like me? You would
scarcely feel me between your teeth. Rather seize those two wicked
girls; they will be tender morsels for you, as fat as young quails;
pray, eat them at once."
The bear, without troubling himself to answer, gave the malicious
creature one single stroke with his paw, and he did not move again.
The girls had run away, but the bear called after them, "Snow-white
and Rose-red, do not be frightened; wait, I will go with you.
Recognising the voice of their old friend, they stood still, and when
the bear came up to them his skin suddenly fell off; and behold he was
not a bear, but a handsome young man dressed all in gold.
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