"
"What does he want there? And he has not even said good-bye to me!"
"Oh, he wished very much to go, and asked if he might remain away six
weeks; he is well taken care of there, you know."
"Well," said the father, "I am sorry; for he ought to have bade me
good-bye."
After that he began to eat, and said, "Margery, what are you crying
for? Brother will be sure to come back. Oh, wife," continued he, "how
delicious this food tastes; give me some more." And the more he ate,
the more he wanted; and he said, "Give me more, you shall not have any
of it; I feel as if it were all mine." And he ate and ate, throwing
the bones under the table, till he had finished it all.
But Margery went to her drawers, and took out of the bottom drawer her
best silk handkerchief, and fetched out all the bones from under the
table; she tied them up in the silk handkerchief, and took them out of
doors, and shed bitter tears over them. Then she laid them under the
Juniper-tree in the green grass; and when she had put them there, she
felt all at once quite happy, and did not cry any more.
Soon the Juniper began to move, and the twigs kept dividing and then
closing, just as if the tree were clapping its hands for joy. After
that there went up from it a sort of mist, and right in the centre of
the mist burnt a fire, and out of the fire flew a beautiful bird, who,
singing deliciously, rose up high in the air.
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