Will you take them in, and give them food and
stable room, and manage them as I tell you, and then I will pay you what
you ask." The miller said, "Why not? But how am I to manage them?" The
huntsman then said that he was to give three beatings and one meal daily
to the old donkey, and that was the witch; one beating and three meals
to the younger one, which was the servant-girl; and to the youngest,
which was the maiden, no beatings and three meals, for he could not
bring himself to have the maiden beaten. After that he went back into
the castle, and found therein everything he needed.
After a couple of days, the miller came and said he must inform him that
the old ass which had received three beatings and only one meal daily
was dead; "the two others," he continued, "are certainly not dead,
and are fed three times daily, but they are so sad that they cannot
last much longer." The huntsman was moved to pity, put away his anger,
and told the miller to drive them back again to him. And when they came,
he gave them some of the good salad, so that they became human again.
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