"Idiot!" cried the dwarf. "Who would go and get more people? Already
there are two too many. Can't you think of something better?"
"Don't be so impatient," said Snow-White. "I will try to think." She
clapped her hands as if she had discovered a remedy, took out her
scissors, and in a moment set the dwarf free by cutting off the end of
his beard.
Immediately the dwarf felt that he was free he seized a sackful
of gold that was hidden among the tree roots, and, lifting it up,
grumbled out, "Clumsy creatures, to cut off a bit of my beautiful
beard, of which I am so proud! I leave the cuckoos to pay you for what
you did." Saying this, he swung the sack across his shoulder and went
off without even casting a glance at the children.
Not long afterwards the two sisters went to angle in the brook,
meaning to catch fish for dinner. As they were drawing near the water
they perceived something, looking like a large grasshopper, springing
towards the stream, as if it were going in. They hurried up to see
what it might be, and found that it was the dwarf. "Where are you
going?" said Rose-Red. "Surely you will not jump into the water?"
"I'm not such a simpleton as that!" yelled the little man.
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