At last she stood there all in
readiness, sweet and beautiful. The two maids, whom curiosity had drawn
from their beds, encircled her with their lights, and were so absorbed
in admiration that they forgot that oil makes spots and that fire
kindles; a little more and Freneli, soaked in oil, would have gone up in
flame. Alas, in the fleshy bosoms of the poor maids heaved the yearning:
Oh, if they once had such pretty clothes, they would be as pretty as
Freneli; and then they too could ride off to be married to such a
handsome man!
Long before three o'clock they drove out into the cold, frosty morning.
Amid question and answer the flickering stars paled and sought their
sky-blue beds, and the good mother sun began to weave golden curtains
about them out of sparkling rays of light, so that their chaste
retirement, their innocent sleep, might not be sullied by the eyes of
curious sinners. Jack Frost shook his curls more mightily; driven by the
sun from the little stars to the dark bosom of the earth, away from his
heavenly sweethearts, he tried to caress earthly ones, wanted to embrace
Freneli and put his cold arms about the warm girl; his white breath was
already playing in the tips of her cap. The girl shivered and begged
Uli to take refuge just a moment in a warm room; she was shaking through
and through, and they would reach their destination soon enough.
It was one of the good old taverns whose proprietors do not change every
year, but where one generation succeeds the other.
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