Chapter 1. Our story begins with a story about three men who fell out of Chapter 1. Our story begins with a story about three men who fell out of a tree and into a large pit. While they were falling, the first man began to scream and to cry: "God help us! We shall never come to the ground!" As he fell, he shouted for his neighbours to help him, if they would, and to give him aid. In his fright he began to call also on the name of God and of the Virgin Mary, and of all the saints. The second man was not so ready to give up as the first, for he believed that he should be able to help himself in some way. As soon as he fell, he shouted for help, so that all who were in the woods came running to the place. The third man was one of the boldest and strongest of the three, and he believed that he could save himself by his own strength, and he kept his strength in reserve. After they had all fallen, each of them started a different way, seeking for a ladder, with which he could get out of the pit. The first of them climbed out on a tree, and was not at all sorry that he was not in the pit. But the second man climbed out on the trunk of the tree, so that the tree broke, and he too was left without a ladder, and therefore he cried, "Lord God, help me out of this deep pit, for the branches do not hold me." But as he cried out he slipped, and, in his fall, he broke a leg, and so he was forced to go to the King's Court to be cared for. As the second man went out of the pit, he ran into the forest and he fell in the same way that he went out of the pit. But the third man, who went out of the pit on the top of the tree, thought that he had not yet done enough for himself, for he was angry because he was forced to leave the pit, because he fell out of the tree. He also thought of the neighbours, who were standing about the pit, and said, "It is hard, when I was so near to getting to the top of the tree, that I should leave the pit." So he took a stone which was about the size of his head, and threw it into the pit, so that the pit was filled. So then he said to himself, "I have a good heart, and I will climb out on the trunk of the tree," and he climbed out on the trunk of the tree. Now, the trunk of the tree was so small that it did not even reach up to his waist; but he was so strong that he lifted himself with his hands, and put his head on the tree. At last, he got one leg up, and now, being so close to the top, he cried out, "Lord, help me to get out of this. The branches do not hold me, nor am I very strong, and if my hands do not help me, it will be bad for me." And as he cried out, he slipped, and his leg slipped with him, and then his other leg slipped also, and then his head slipped off, and his body fell down on the tree. In his fall his leg was broken, and then he was forced to go to the Court, and he went away a cripple from his fall. So all the three of them went out of the pit, but each of them met with a different misfortune, for the first got on a tree, the second broke a leg in the pit, and the third was left crippled. And the reason why they all got different things is because each man would only think of what concerned himself. And I, said the children, have got to the bottom of the story. I should think that the reason why they did not help one another was because the first man was stupid, and he could not think of anything but himself, and the second man was too proud, and he cared only for his own life, and the third man was very proud, and he would not help anybody. Therefore, it was better for them to go out of the pit, each of them by himself, and he got what he deserved. Then I asked them who the three men were, and what was the difference between them, and they told me that they were the world, the flesh, and the devil. I was afraid that they would ask me why the devil did not help the man who fell, but, as there was no one there to ask them such a question, I said no more. Chapter 2. Now we shall read of the story about a young girl who lived at a place where there was no light, or sun, and the reason of this was, because of a great curse. In the place where the girl lived there was no light, or sun, because one of her ancestors had committed a murder, and therefore she had to stay in the dark place till she was punished. Every morning the old priest visited the girl to ask her if she was quite resigned to her hard fate, and if she did not feel it to be too heavy a punishment, and that she was sorry for what she had done. On the very next morning the young girl fell fast asleep as the priest talked to her, and then it happened, to the great amazement of all, that the window-sill of her room was moved by invisible hands, and she was able to hear all that went on in the next house, which was not a very great distance off, although there was a wall between the houses. So the next day the old priest spoke to her of the wickedness of murder, and asked her if she understood what had happened, and whether she had been able to hear what he was saying, and whether it had made her sorry for what she had done; and this time the girl replied, "God grant that you may never have such a misfortune as mine. The wall in your next house is moved just in the same way, and I cannot help it, and you must be always very careful how you are going to bed and how you are going to get out of your bed. Now, once more I am going to tell you that I do not wish to have a murder to answer for." Chapter 3. Some time after this a very old priest came and spoke to the girl for a long time, and gave her his blessing. But she became impatient, and began to talk with the priest about the time when she should be set free from her hard condition. And she said that her father had been a great nobleman, but that when his father was dying, he had turned her into the castle, to take care of her grandfather when he became ill, and to wait on her brothers and sisters. For six days he was very ill, but, on the seventh day, his end came, and he departed this life. The young girl had nothing more to do, for she had lived so long with her grandfather that no one had any occasion to speak with her. And soon after this her mother died also, and then she was alone in the house, for there was no one else who could take care of it. Now the girl looked out of the window, and she began to say, "Is there no one in the world who will take pity on me? My grandfather is dead, and I have nobody to take care of me, and I am as lonely as if I were buried. I am only young; I have never felt a child, and I have to live like a man, and my heart is very heavy, and this loneliness makes me miserable." The people in the house which was opposite to hers, saw her moving about the window. At last she made a sign to them that she would take them into her confidence, and in the night she got out of her room, and went to a window in the room where the people were, and she called to them. So the next day the girl took them into the empty hall. They could hardly believe that there was a young girl living there alone, for they saw that all the things in the hall were very rich and expensive, and, furthermore, they saw that there was neither man nor woman of any condition. There was only a little girl, who could hardly be any higher than her knees, and she did not look like one who belonged to any great family. Chapter 4. The young girl sent for her friends, and invited them to stay with her, and, for a long time, she entertained them with the most expensive dishes which she could get, for she told them that she had plenty of means. So they went home, and the neighbours told them that there was a very beautiful young girl, who had invited them to come and stay with her. In the morning they went back, and they found that they had told their friends a falsehood, and they went back again, and told the girl that they were going back. They went away, and told the neighbours that, if they wanted to go back, they must put a rope round them and hold them back by force, and they tried to put one of them into the room, so that they might know what the room was like. When they got inside the room they could hardly believe their eyes, for the sight of the things there was such that they would not believe. In one place they saw four gold rings lying on a cushion, and the girl took them up, and put them on her fingers, but they would not fit. And all kinds of beautiful things and wonderful things they saw in that room. As soon as