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'The old woman has destroyed all my brethren in fire and smoke;

she seized sixty of them at once, and took their lives. I luckily

slipped through her fingers.'

'But what are we to do now?' said the coal.

'I think,' answered the bean, 'that as we have so fortunately

escaped death, we should keep together like good companions, and

lest a new mischance should overtake us here, we should go away

together, and repair to a foreign country.'