maid goes in and looks in the mirror. For this the raven tears her to pieces, and says to the princess, "Now thou must go away and go into service for seven years, and do the work of seven maids." And he likewise tells her that she will meet an aged woman with whom she must exchange clothes, and then she will come to a house and a woman will look out of it and scold her, but she is not to mind it; and he pulls out one of his feathers and gives it to her saying, "When any piece of work is too hard for thee, take out his feather and say, 'By the raven's command this shall be done,' and the work will be done." She is however obliged to promise to be true to him. So she goes away, exchanges her beautiful garments for the old woman's bad ones, and comes to the house where the cross old woman looks out. The King's daughter offers her services, but the old woman says, "I have had seven maids, how canst thou do their work with thy dainty hands?" "Oh, indeed, I will try to do it," says the princess. In the first place she has to clean a stable, but her hands are soon blistered; then she takes the feather and says, "By the raven's command the stable is to be cleaner than it has ever been before." Instantly the work is done. For seven years she is in service there, and whatsoever is too difficult for her to do is done by the help of the raven's feather. The men-servants and boys belonging to the house who crowd about her, and torment her because of her extreme beauty, are all mocked by her. One day the coachman says, "May I come to thee to-night?" "Yes," she answers; but when she hears him coming she gets out her feather and says, "By the raven's command shall he go into the yard and dress and undress himself for one hour, and then come and thank me for the pleasure he has had." As they have all been made fools of by her, one after the other, they assemble together to beat her with rods, but she takes the feather and says, "By the raven's command they shall all undress themselves and cut at each other till the blood flows, and then they shall come and say, 'Thank you,' for it." Thus she obtains peace until the seven years are over, and then a prince drives up in the greatest splendour and takes her away, and this is the raven whose period of enchantment has now come to an end. In Die junge Amerikanerin (l. 30-231) the story is ill used. The beast is a dragon from whose garden (there is no winter in it) the father plucks a rose, and for this has to promise his daughter. The daughter goes of her own accord to the castle of the dragon, who pretends to be foolish, and awkward. At night however she dreams of a beautiful youth, and gradually becomes accustomed to him, until at last she loves him, she visits her parents and returns by means of a ring which is turned inward or outward. Finally, she one night owns to him that she loves him, and in the morning he is a handsome young man, and is freed from the spell. It is also discovered that
