Pagina 299 van 626

When evening came, and the dwarfs had gone home, they found

Snowdrop lying on the ground: no breath came from her lips, and

they were afraid that she was quite dead. They lifted her up, and

combed her hair, and washed her face with wine and water; but all

was in vain, for the little girl seemed quite dead. So they laid

her down upon a bier, and all seven watched and bewailed her

three whole days; and then they thought they would bury her: but

her cheeks were still rosy; and her face looked just as it did

while she was alive; so they said, 'We will never bury her in the

cold ground.' And they made a coffin of glass, so that they might

still look at her, and wrote upon it in golden letters what her

name was, and that she was a king's daughter. And the coffin was

set among the hills, and one of the dwarfs always sat by it and

watched. And the birds of the air came too, and bemoaned

Snowdrop; and first of all came an owl, and then a raven, and at

last a dove, and sat by her side.