The Countess' Captive (The Fairytale Keeper Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

everything.’”
    The jovial man leans in close. The scent of ale is heavy on his breath as he lowers his voice to a whisper. “But they had a trick, you see, a salve, they rubbed themselves with, which joined parts together, and they carried the little bottle of it everywhere they went,” he confesses before sitting pert again. “Then they cut the hand, heart, and eyes from their bodies as they had said they would, laid them all together on a plate, and gave it to the innkeeper.
    “The innkeeper gave it to a servant girl who was to set it in the cupboard and take good care of it. The girl had a lover though, who was a soldier. So when the innkeeper, the three army surgeons, and everyone else in the inn was asleep, the soldier came and wanted something to eat. The girl opened the cupboard and brought him some food, but she forgot to shut the cupboard door.
    “She sat by the soldier, and they chattered away, but while she was sitting there, a cat came creeping in, found the cupboard open, took the hand and heart and eyes of the three army surgeons, and ran off with them.
    “When the soldier had done eating, and the girl was taking away his scraps, she saw the cupboard was empty. She cried to her lover and told him what was the matter.
    “And so he said, ‘I will help you out of your troubles. There is a thief hanging outside on the gallows, I will cut off his hand. Which hand was it?’
    “‘The right one,’ she said to him.
    “Then the girl gave him a sharp knife, and he went and cut the poor sinner’s right hand off and brought it to her. After this he caught the cat and cut its eyes out. Now nothing but the heart was wanting.
    “‘Have you not been slaughtering pigs, and are not the dead animals in the cellar?’ he asked her.
    “‘Yes,’ said the girl.
    “‘That will be easy enough,’ said the soldier, and he went down and fetched a pig’s heart.
    “The girl put it all together on the plate and put it in the cupboard. After that he left, and she went up to bed.
    “In the morning when the three army surgeons got up, they told the girl to fetch them the plate with the hand, heart, and eyes on it, so she brought it out of the cupboard.
    “The first fixed the thief’s hand on and smeared it with his salve, and it grew to his arm directly. The second took the cat’s eyes and put them in his own head. The third fixed the pig’s heart firm in the place where his own had been. All the while, the innkeeper stood by, admired their skill, and said he had never seen such a thing as that and would sing their praises.
    “Then they paid their bill, and travelled on.
    “As they were on their way, the one with the pig’s heart did not stay with them at all, but wherever there was a corner, he ran to it and rooted about in it with his nose as pigs do. The other two wanted to hold him back by the tail of his cloak, but that did no good; he tore himself loose and ran wherever the dirt was thickest.
    “The second also behaved very strangely; he rubbed his eyes and said to the others, ‘I can’t see nothing at all. Will one of you lead me so that I do not fall.’
    “Then they travelled on till evening, when they reached another inn. They went into the tavern together, and there at a table in the corner sat a rich man counting his winnings. The one with the thief’s hand walked round about him, and at last when the stranger turned away, he grabbed the pile of coins. One of them saw this, and said, ‘Stealin’ from people is a sin and a crime. You’ll lose your hand if not your head!’
    “‘Would that I could stop myself,’ said he, ‘My hand twitches, and I am forced to snatch things whether I like it or not.’
    “After this, the three army surgeons lied down to sleep, and while they were lying there it was so dark that no one could see his own hand. All at once the one with the cat’s eyes awoke, aroused the others, and said, ‘Brothers, just look up; do you see the white mice running about