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As soon as the cook went away, Cat-skin heated the king's soup,

and toasted a slice of bread first, as nicely as ever she could;

and when it was ready, she went and looked in the cabin for her

little golden ring, and put it into the dish in which the soup

was. When the dance was over, the king ordered his soup to be

brought in; and it pleased him so well, that he thought he had

never tasted any so good before. At the bottom he saw a gold ring

lying; and as he could not make out how it had got there, he

ordered the cook to be sent for. The cook was frightened when he

heard the order, and said to Cat-skin, 'You must have let a hair

fall into the soup; if it be so, you will have a good beating.'

Then he went before the king, and he asked him who had cooked the

soup. 'I did,' answered the cook.