25 lines
1.6 KiB
Text
25 lines
1.6 KiB
Text
Frau Trude
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There was once a little girl who was obstinate and inquisitive, and
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when her parents told her to do anything, she did not obey them, so how
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could she fare well? One day she said to her parents, “I have heard so
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much of Frau Trude, I will go to her some day. People say that
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everything about her does look so strange, and that there are such odd
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things in her house, that I have become quite curious!” Her parents
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absolutely forbade her, and said, “Frau Trude is a bad woman, who does
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wicked things, and if thou goest to her; thou art no longer our child.”
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But the maiden did not let herself be turned aside by her parent’s
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prohibition, and still went to Frau Trude. And when she got to her,
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Frau Trude said, “Why art thou so pale?” “Ah,” she replied, and her
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whole body trembled, “I have been so terrified at what I have seen.”
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“What hast thou seen?” “I saw a black man on your steps.” “That was a
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collier.” “Then I saw a green man.” “That was a huntsman.” “After that
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I saw a blood-red man.” “That was a butcher.” “Ah, Frau Trude, I was
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terrified; I looked through the window and saw not you, but, as I
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verily believe, the devil himself with a head of fire.” “Oho!” said
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she, “then thou hast seen the witch in her proper costume. I have been
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waiting for thee, and wanting thee a long time already; thou shalt give
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me some light.” Then she changed the girl into a block of wood, and
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threw it into the fire. And when it was in full blaze she sat down
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close to it, and warmed herself by it, and said, “That shines bright
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for once in a way.”
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