and began eating the cakes with great relish, looking from the window all the time.
It soon began to get dark, a strong wind began to blow, and a voice was heard singing outside:
"Wanderer! outcast, forsaken!
Whom the night has overtaken;
If no crime your conscience stain,
Here this night you may remain."
When the voice ceased she answered:
"I am outcast and forsaken;
Yet unstained by crime am I:
Be you rich, or be you poor,
For this night here let me lie."
Then the door opened, and the bear walked in.
The girl stood up, gave him a winning smile, and waited for him to bow first.
The bear looked at her narrowly, made a bow, and said:
"Welcome, maiden ... but I have not much time to stay here. I must go back to the forest; but between now and to-morrow evening you must make me a shirt, out of this flax; so you must set at once about spinning, weaving, bleaching, washing, and then about sewing it. Good-bye!"
So saying the bear turned, and went out.
"That's not what I came here for," said the girl, so soon as his back was turned, "to do your spinning, weaving, and sewing! You may do without a shirt for me!"
