'Now you shall be as grieved as I was when you let the moon out.'

And the queen begged and prayed, and wept; for when her foster-mother
was there, she could speak--but it was all no good.

And now the old queen said she must be burnt, but the Prince found
means to beg her off. But when the third child was to be born, a
watch was set three times as strong as the first, but just the same
thing happened. Her foster-mother came while the watch slept, took
the babe, and cut its little finger, and smeared the queen's mouth
with the blood, telling her now she should be as grieved as she had
been when the lassie let out the sun.

And now the Prince could not save her any longer. She must and should
be burnt. But just as they were leading her to the stake, all at once
they saw her foster-mother, who came with all three children--two she
led by the hand, and the third she had on her arm; and so she went up
to the young queen and said:

'Here are your children; now you shall have them again. I am the
Virgin Mary, and so grieved as you have been, so grieved was I when
you let out sun, and moon, and star. Now you have been punished for
what you did, and henceforth you shall have your speech.'

How glad the Queen and Prince now were, all may easily think, but no
one can tell. After that they were always happy; and from that day
even the Prince's mother was very fond of the young queen.