The Maiden looked up, and saw that the voice came from a bird in a cage hanging on the wall. ‘Turn back, turn back, thou bonnie Bride, Here she saw a solitary house, which she did not like it was so dark and dismal. She went in, but found nobody, and there was dead silence. She walked nearly the whole day, right into the midst of the forest, where it was almost dark. At the entrance to the forest she found the track of ashes, and followed it but every step or two she scattered a few peas right and left. So that she should be sure of finding her way back she filled her pockets with peas and lentils. When Sunday came, and the Maiden was about to start, she was frightened, though she did not know why.

I have invited some other guests, and, so that you may be able to find the way, I will strew some ashes to guide you.’

The Bridegroom answered: ‘Next Sunday you must come and see me without fail. She made excuses, and said she could not find the way. Then the Bridegroom said, ‘My house is in the depths of the forest.’ The Maiden answered ‘I don’t even know where your house is.’ One day he said to her, ‘You are my betrothed, and yet you have never been to see me.’ Whenever she looked at him, or thought about him, a shudder came over her. The Maiden, however, did not like him as a bride ought to like her bridegroom nor had she any faith in him. Soon after a suitor came who appeared to be rich, and as the Miller knew nothing against him he promised his daughter to him. He thought, ‘If a suitable bridegroom come and ask for my daughter, I will give her to him.’ When she grew up, he wanted to have her married and settled. There was once a Miller, who had a beautiful daughter. Origins of Fairy Tales from Around the World.

The robber bride