she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf on which she had placed poor
little Tiny. She wanted to fetch the pretty bed, that she might put it in the
bridal chamber to be ready for her. The old toad bowed low to her in the
water, and said, “Here is my son, he will be your husband, and you will live
happily in the marsh by the stream.”
“Croak, croak, croak,” was all her son could say for himself; so the toad
took up the elegant little bed, and swam away with it, leaving Tiny all alone
on the green leaf, where she sat and wept. She could not bear to think of
living with the old toad, and having her ugly son for a husband. The little
fishes, who swam about in the water beneath, had seen the toad, and heard
what she said, so they lifted their heads above the water to look at the little
maiden. As soon as they caught sight of her, they saw she was very pretty,
and it made them very sorry to think that she must go and live with the ugly
toads. “No, it must never be!” so they assembled together in the water,
round the green stalk which held the leaf on which the little maiden stood,
and gnawed it away at the root with their teeth. Then the leaf floated down
the stream, carrying Tiny far away out of reach of land.
