Once upon a time there was a poor husbandman who had many children and
little to give them in the way either of food or clothing. They were all pretty,
but the prettiest of all was the youngest daughter, who was so beautiful that
there were no bounds to her beauty.
So once—it was late on a Thursday evening in autumn, and wild weather
outside, terribly dark, and raining so heavily and blowing so hard that the walls
of the cottage shook again—they were all sitting together by the fireside, each
of them busy with something or other, when suddenly some one rapped three
times against the window-pane. The man went out to see what could be the
matter, and when he got out there stood a great big white bear.
"Good-evening to you," said the White Bear.
"Good-evening," said the man.
"Will you give me your youngest daughter?" said the White Bear; "if you will,
you shall be as rich as you are now poor."
