<h3><SPAN name="chap43"></SPAN>43 Frau Trude</h3>
<p>There was once a little girl who was obstinate and inquisitive, and when her
parents told her to do anything, she did not obey them, so how could she fare
well? One day she said to her parents, “I have heard so much of Frau
Trude, I will go to her some day. People say that everything about her does
look so strange, and that there are such odd things in her house, that I have
become quite curious!” Her parents absolutely forbade her, and said,
“Frau Trude is a bad woman, who does wicked things, and if thou goest to
her; thou art no longer our child.” But the maiden did not let herself be
turned aside by her parent’s prohibition, and still went to Frau Trude.
And when she got to her, Frau Trude said, “Why art thou so pale?”
“Ah,” she replied, and her whole body trembled, “I have been
so terrified at what I have seen.” “What hast thou seen?”
“I saw a black man on your steps.” “That was a
collier.” “Then I saw a green man.” “That was a
huntsman.” “After that I saw a blood-red man.” “That
was a butcher.” “Ah, Frau Trude, I was terrified; I looked through
the window and saw not you, but, as I verily believe, the devil himself with a
head of fire.” “Oho!” said she, “then thou hast seen
the witch in her proper costume. I have been waiting for thee, and wanting thee
a long time already; thou shalt give me some light.” Then she changed the
girl into a block of wood, and threw it into the fire. And when it was in full
blaze she sat down close to it, and warmed herself by it, and said, “That
shines bright for once in a way.”</p>
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