Page:The Red Fairy Book.djvu/203

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THE VOICE OF DEATH
183

he or any of his family heard that voice they would pay no heed to it, however loudly it called.

After he had settled down in his new home, and had got everything in order about him, he warned his wife and family that, unless they wanted to die, they must on no account listen to a voice which they might some day hear calling them.

For some years everything went well with them, and they lived happily in their new home. But one day, while they were all sitting

together round the table, his wife suddenly started up, exclaiming in a loud voice:

'I am coming! I am coming!'

And she began to look round the room for her fur coat, but her husband jumped up, and taking firm hold of her by the hand, held her fast, and reproached her, saying:

'Don't you remember what I told you? Stay where you are unless you wish to die.'

'But don't you hear that voice calling me?' she answered. I