The Tinder Box (3)

The Tinder Box (3)

" Yes, I am ! " replied the Witch.
" Not a single farthing will I take. For me you shall bring nothing but an old tinder box which my grandmother forgot last time she was down there. "

" Well, tie the rope round my waist, " said the Soldier.

" Here it is, " said the Witch, " and here is my blue-check apron. "

Then the Soldier climbed up the tree, let himself down through the hole, and found himself standing, as the Witch had said, underground in the large hall, where the more than three hundred lamps were burning.

Well, he opened the first door.

Ugh !  there sat the dog with eyes as big as saucers glaring at him.



" You are a fine fellow ! " said the Soldier, and put him on the Witch's apron, took as much copper as his pockets could hold; then he shut the chest, put the dog on it again, and went into the second room.     

(3/15)