n a royal palace dwelt, once upon a time, three fair sisters, all equally young and pretty; the youngest, however, although not at all more beautiful than the two elder, was the best and most amiable of them all.

About half a mile distant from the palace, stood another lordly dwelling, but which had then fallen into decay, although it still could boast of a beautiful garden. In this garden the youngest princess took great pleasure to wander.

Once as she was walking up and down between the lime trees, a black crow hopped from under a rose-bush. The poor bird was all mutilated and bloody, and the princess was moved with compassion for him. The crow no sooner perceived this than he broke out into the following discourse:—

"No black crow am I by birth, but an unhappy prince, suffering under a malediction, and doomed to pass my years in this miserable condition. If thou wilt, oh youthful princess, thou canst rescue me. But to do so, thou must resolve to be ever my companion, to forsake thy sisters, and to live in this castle. There is a habitable chamber in it, wherein stands a golden bed; in that chamber thou must live in solitude. But forget not, that whatsoever thou mayest see and hear by night, thou must let no cry of fear escape thee; for if thou shouldst utter but one single moan my tortures will be doubled."

The kind-hearted princess did forsake her father and sisters, and hastened to the castle; and there dwelt in the chamber which contained the golden bed. She was so full of anxious thought that she could not sleep. As midnight drew near she heard, to her no small terror, some one creeping in. The door opened wide, and a whole band of evil spirits entered the chamber. They kindled a great fire on the hearth, and placed over it a large cauldron, full of boiling water. With great noise and loud cries they approached the bed, tore from it the trembling maiden, and dragged her to the cauldron.

She was almost dead from fear, but she uttered no sound. Then suddenly the cock crew, and all vanished. The crow immediately appeared, and hopped joyfully about the room, and thanked the princess for her courageous behaviour, for the sufferings of the unhappy bird were already lessened.

One of her elder sisters, who had much curiosity in her disposition, having heard of this, came to visit the princess in her ruined castle. She besought her so earnestly, that the kind-hearted maiden at length permitted her to pass one night beside her, in the golden bed. When the evil spirits appeared as usual about midnight, the elder sister shrieked aloud from fear, and immediately the cry of a bird in pain was heard.

The young sister from that time never received the visits of either of her sisters. Thus did she live; solitary by day, and suffering by night the most terrible alarm from the evil spirits; but the crow came daily to her, and thanked her for her endurance, assuring her that his dreadful sufferings were greatly mitigated.

Thus had passed two years, when the crow came to her, and thus addressed her:—

"In one year more I shall be delivered from the punishment to which I am condemned; for then seven years will have passed over my head. But before I can re-assume my real form, and gain possession of my treasures, thou must go out into the wide world, and become a servant."

Obedient to the will of her betrothed, the young princess served for a whole year as a maid, and notwithstanding her youth and beauty, she escaped all the snares laid for her by the ill-disposed.

One evening while she was spinning flax, and her white hands were wearied with work, she heard a rustling, and an exclamation of joy. A handsome young man entered her presence, knelt before her, and kissed the little weary white hands.

"It is I," cried he, "I am the prince, whom thou, by thy goodness, whilst I wandered in the form of a black crow, didst deliver from the most dreadful tortures. Return with me now to my castle, there will we live together in happiness."

They went together to the castle where she had undergone so much terror. The palace was, however, no longer recognisable, it was so improved and adorned, and in it did they dwell together for a hundred happy and joyous years.