Large Bird

It happened that soon after this the mother sent Snow White and Rose Red to the town to buy needles, thread, laces, and ribbons. Their road led over a heath where huge boulders of rock lay scattered here and there. While trudging along they saw a big bird hovering in the air, circling slowly above them, but always descending lower, till at last it settled on a rock not far from them. Immediately afterward they heard a sharp, piercing cry. They ran forward, and saw with horror that the eagle had pounced on their old friend the dwarf, and was about to carry him off. The tender-hearted girls seized hold of the little man, and struggled so long with the bird that at last he let go his prey.

When the dwarf had recovered from the first shock he screamed in his screeching voice, "Couldn't you have treated me more carefully? You have torn my thin little coat all to shreds!" then he took a bag of precious stones and vanished under the rocks into his cave. The girls were accustomed to his ingratitude, and they went on their way and did their business in town.