The princess was not so certain ; however , she went to the king , and told him she could never marry him till he had given her the ass 's skin . The king was both astonished and grieved at this new request , but did not hesitate an instant . The ass was sacrificed , and the skin laid at the feet of the princess . -LSB- Illustration : The Fairy , The Princess & The Donkey 's Skin -RSB- The poor girl , seeing no escape from the fate she dreaded , wept afresh , and tore her hair ; when , suddenly , the fairy stood before her . ` Take heart , ' she said , ` all will now go well ! Wrap yourself in this skin , and leave the palace and go as far as you can . I will look after you . Your dresses and your jewels shall follow you underground , and if you strike the earth whenever you need anything , you will have it at once . But go quickly : you have no time to lose . ' So the princess clothed herself in the ass 's skin , and slipped from the palace without being seen by anyone . Directly she was missed there was a great hue and cry , and every corner , possible and impossible , was searched . Then the king sent out parties along all the roads , but the fairy threw her invisible mantle over the girl when they approached , and none of them could see her . The princess walked on a long , long way , trying to find some one who would take her in , and let her work for them ; but though the cottagers , whose houses she passed , gave her food from charity , the ass 's skin was so dirty they would not allow her to enter their houses . For her flight had been so hurried she had had no time to clean it . Tired and disheartened at her ill-fortune , she was wandering , one day , past the gate of a farmyard , situated just outside the walls of a large town , when she heard a voice calling to her . She turned and saw the farmer 's wife standing among her turkeys , and making signs to her to come in . ' I want a girl to wash the dishes and feed the turkeys , and clean out the pig-sty , ' said the woman , ` and , to judge by your dirty clothes , you would not be too fine for the work . ' The girl accepted her offer with joy , and she was at once set to work in a corner of the kitchen , where all the farm servants came and made fun of her , and the ass 's skin in which she was wrapped . But by-and-by they got so used to the sight of it that it ceased to amuse them , and she worked so hard and so well , that her mistress grew quite fond of her . And she was so clever at keeping sheep and herding turkeys that you would have thought she had done nothing else during her whole life !
One day she was sitting on the banks of a stream bewailing her wretched lot , when she suddenly caught sight XXXXX herself in the water .
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