And as for the clothes
of the others, the Marten gave them back without taking fee or rewards.
Then Team, the Moose, who was a good soul, but not wise above all the
world, coming home and finding Marten married, wished also for a wife.
And having heard all the tale, he said, "Well, if it is no harder than
that, 'tis as easy as sucking a honeysuckle, and I am as good as
married." And going to the pond in the mountains, among the rocks and
behind the grapevines, he too beheld the virgins jumping, flapping,
splashing, and mischieving merrily, like mad minxes, in the water;
whereat he, being all of a rage, as it were, caught up the clothes of
these, poor maids and ran; she whom he most admired catching up with
him. And being resolved to do the thing thoroughly, he grappled up a
great club and gave her a bang on her small head, which stunned her
indeed, and that forever, inasmuch as she was slain outright. So the
Moose remained unmarried.
Now Team was one of the kind not uncommon, in this world, who hold that
if any other man has or gets more than they have, then they are deeply
wronged. And it had come to pass that Master Marten, finding that his
wife yearned greatly for the society of her sisters, offered to take
yet another of them in marriage, merely to oblige his wife; for in such
a kind of benevolence he was one of the best souls that ever lived, and
rather than have trouble in the family he would have wedded all the
pretty girls in the country.
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