" And when
the baker had rubbed his feet over, he ran to the miller and said,
"Strew some white meal over my feet for me." The miller thought to
himself, "The wolf wants to deceive some one," and refused; but the
wolf said, "If thou wilt not do it, I will devour thee." Then the
miller was afraid, and made his paws white for him. Truly men are like
that.
So now the wretch went for the third time to the house door, knocked
at it, and said, "Open the door for me, children; your dear little
mother has come home, and has brought every one of you something back
from the forest with her." The little kids cried, "First show us thy
paws that we may know if thou art our dear little mother." Then he put
his paws in through the window, and when the kids saw that they were
white, they believed that all he said was true, and opened the door.
But who should come in but the wolf! They were terrified and wanted to
hide themselves. One sprang under the table, the second into the bed,
the third into the stove, the fourth into the kitchen, the fifth into
the cupboard, the sixth under the washing-bowl, and the seventh
into the clock-case. But the wolf found them all, and used no great
ceremony; one after the other he swallowed them down his throat. The
youngest in the clock-case was the only one he did not find. When the
wolf had satisfied his appetite he took himself off, laid himself
down under a tree in the green meadow outside, and went to sleep.
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