And
they're conceited at that. We can give the commission to the Ants,
though; they run to and fro, as if they had business. They're sure to
know of a wife for our young gentleman."
"I certainly know the most beautiful of brides," said one of the Ants,
"but I fear she would not do, for she is the Queen."
"That does not matter," said the two old Snails. "Has she a house?"
"She has a castle!" replied the Ant, "the most beautiful ants' castle,
with seven hundred passages."
"Thank you," said the Mother Snail, "our boy shall not go into an
ant-hill. If you know of nothing better, we will give the commission
to the white gnats. They fly far about in rain and sunshine, and they
know the burdock wood, inside and outside."
"We have a wife for him," said the Gnats. "A hundred man-steps from
here a little snail with a house is sitting on a gooseberry bush. She
is quite alone, and old enough to marry. It's only a hundred man-steps
from here."
"Yes, let her come to him," said the old people. "He has a whole
burdock forest, and she has only a bush."
So they brought the little maiden Snail. Eight days passed before she
arrived, but that was the rare circumstance by which one could see
that she was of the right kind.
And then they had the wedding.
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