I will be her
mother, and henceforth she shall be under my care." The woodcutter
consented, and calling his child gave her to the Angel, who carried her
to the land of Happiness. There everything went happily; she ate sweet
bread and drank pure milk; her clothes were gold, and her playfellows
were beautiful children. When she became fourteen years old, the
Guardian Angel called her to her side and said, "My dear child, I have
a long journey for thee. Take these keys of the thirteen doors of the
land of Happiness; twelve of them thou mayest open, and behold the
glories therein; but the thirteenth, to which this little key belongs,
thou art forbidden to open. Beware! if thou dost disobey, harm will
befall thee."
The maiden promised to be obedient, and, when the Guardian Angel was
gone, began her visits to the mansions of Happiness. Every day one
door was unclosed, until she had seen all the twelve. In each mansion
there sat an angel, surrounded by a bright light. The maiden rejoiced
at the glory, and the child who accompanied her rejoiced with her.
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