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Then they showed her a little corner under the staircase, where

no light of day ever peeped in, and said, 'Cat-skin, you may lie

and sleep there.' And she was sent into the kitchen, and made to

fetch wood and water, to blow the fire, pluck the poultry, pick

the herbs, sift the ashes, and do all the dirty work.

Thus Cat-skin lived for a long time very sorrowfully. 'Ah! pretty

princess!' thought she, 'what will now become of thee?' But it

happened one day that a feast was to be held in the king's

castle, so she said to the cook, 'May I go up a little while and

see what is going on? I will take care and stand behind the

door.' And the cook said, 'Yes, you may go, but be back again in

half an hour's time, to rake out the ashes.' Then she took her

little lamp, and went into her cabin, and took off the fur skin,

and washed the soot from off her face and hands, so that her

beauty shone forth like the sun from behind the clouds. She next

opened her nutshell, and brought out of it the dress that shone

like the sun, and so went to the feast. Everyone made way for

her, for nobody knew her, and they thought she could be no less

than a king's daughter. But the king came up to her, and held out

his hand and danced with her; and he thought in his heart, 'I

never saw any one half so beautiful.'