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did not care for the loss of his eye now that he had found her; but Handa cried, and told him that she had rather the old man had killed her than that he should have lost his eye.

Then they turned to the five other little girls, who still sat like marble figures, and Siegfrid drew the shoes from their feet, and one by one they sprang up, and thanked him for coming to save them. Siegfrid showed them the long dark passage, and then led the way up it, the children following close behind him.

When they got to the opening in the forest, they saw that the sun was shining brightly, so that four or five hours had passed since Siegfrid had burnt the shoes, although it had seemed much less.

He helped all the children out of the hole, and then jumped out himself, but no sooner were his feet again upon the grass than the sandals fell from them and crumbled to bits, as if they too had been .burnt to ashes, and at the same moment the hole in the ground closed up, and no mark was left where it had been.

The miller, Handa’s father, was so wearied with searching, that he was obliged to lie down