Atondido Stories
They said they couldn't possibly stop. The little old woman was
very angry. She did not know that they were on their way to the
magic castle and co uld n't stop. The same wicked fairy who had
shut the little old woman's beautiful daughters up in the sacks,
was leading them on.
If the little old woman had known all about the three caval-
heiros she would not have been angry. She would have wanted to help
them instead. The three cavalheiro s were very good and very
wise, so they managed to get along very well. As soon as they
reached the enchanted castle the fairy showed them to their
beds. She had marked each bed with a candle. No one before
had ever been wise enough to blow out these candles. These
cavalheiros blew out the candles and that took away the fairy' s power
over them. They were able to escape from the palace. When the
wicked fairy came to put them in her magic sacks she found the
beds empty.
The three cavalheiro s took their horses and rode back by the
same road by which they had come. They stopped at a little shop
on a corner which was kept by a good fairy and bought one
vintem's worth of ashes, one vintem's worth of salt and one vintem's
worth of pins. After a while the three cavalheiro s approached the
house of the little old woman and the little black boy. The little
old woman was still angry because they had refused to stop and
help her lift her water jar to her head. When she saw them com-
ing she threw stones at them. Of course that was a very stupid
thing to do.
When the three cavalheiro s saw what was happening they
were greatly surprised. They had forgotten all about the little
black boy and the little old woman whom he had asked them to
help. When they saw her coming with the stones they thought
that she must be a wicked fairy in the form of a little old woman.
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