WONDER TALES OF THE FOREST 45

both began to cry. They cried and sobbed until their eyes were red with weeping.

That evening, when the husbands came home, the sisters tried to conceal what they had done; but in vain.

“What has been your trouble to—day?” the husbands asked. “What have you been crying

about?” “We have had no trouble, and we have not

been crying at all,” they said, afraid to tell the truth.

“But surely you have,” said the husbands. “And you have been looking down through the trap-door. You are lonely up here, and you long to get away.” They said this very kindly.

“It is true,” the sisters said, at last, “we looked under the stone to-day, and we long to return to our own world.”

“Very well,” said the husbands, “you may go back if you wish. To-night, when you lie down to sleep, you must follow our directions; and in the morning, you will find yourselves on the spot in the forest where you lay when you invited us to become your husbands.”

Now all they had to do was to fall asleep; but they must not be in haste to uncover their faces, or to open their eyes.

“Wait until you hear a Chickadee sing,” the husbands said; “and even then you must not