I came to ask for a lump of burning coal , to light my fire with . ' -LSB- Illustration : THE MANEATER -RSB- ` Do you want a big lump or a little lump ? ' ` Why , what difference does it make ? ' said she . ` If you have a big lump you must give me a strip of your skin from your ear to your thumb , and if you have a little lump , you must give me a strip from your ear to your little finger . ' Udea , who thought that one sounded as bad as the other , said she would take the big lump , and when the man-eater had cut the skin , she went home again . And as she hastened on a raven beheld the blood on the ground , and plastered it with earth , and stayed by her till she reached the castle . And as she entered the door he flew past , and she shrieked from fright , for up to that moment she had not seen him . In her terror she called after him , ` May you get the same start as you have given me ! ' ` Why should you wish me harm , ' asked the raven , pausing in his flight , ` when I have done you a service ? ' ` What service have you done me ? ' said she . ` Oh , you shall soon see , ' replied the raven , and with his bill he scraped away all the earth he had smeared over the blood and then flew away . In the night the man-eater got up , and followed the blood till he came to Udea 's castle . He entered through the gate which she had left open , and went on till he reached the inside of the house . But here he was stopped by the seven doors , six of wood and one of iron , and all fast locked . And he called through them ` Oh Udea , what did you see your grandfather doing ? ' ' I saw him spread silk under him , and silk over him , and lay himself down in a four-post bed . ' When he heard that , the man-eater broke in one door , and laughed and went away . And the second night he came back , and asked her again what she had seen her grandfather doing , and she answered him as before , and he broke in another door , and laughed and went away , and so each night till he reached the seventh door .
Then the maiden wrote a letter to her brothers , and bound it round the neck of a pigeon , and said to it , ` Oh , thou pigeon that servedst my father and my grandfather , carry this letter XXXXX my brothers , and come back at once . '
If by for from in of that through till to