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Renelde did try, and to her great surprise the nettles when crushed and prepared gave a good thread, soft and light and firm. Very soon she had spun the first shift, which was for her own wedding. She wove and cut it out at once, hoping that the Count would not force her to begin the other. Just as she had finished sewing it, Burchard the Wolf passed by.
'What is your name? he asked her. 'Renelde, my lord. 'You must get tired of staying in such a lonely place? 'I am accustomed to it, my lord, and I never get tired of it. 'That may be so; but come to the castle, and I will make you lady's maid to the Countess. 'I cannot do that, my lord. I have to look after my grandmother, who is very helpless. 'Come to the castle, I tell you.
But two years before, when Renelde's mother was dying of a long illness, the Countess had not forgotten them, but had given help when they sorely needed it. So even if the Count had really wished to marry Renelde, she would always have refused. Some weeks passed before Burchard appeared again.
An old, old woman now spoke: she was the mother of Renelde's grandmother, and was more than ninety years old. All day long she sat in her chair nodding her head and never saying a word. 'My children, she said, 'all the years that I have lived in the world, I have never heard of a shift spun from nettles. But what God commands, man can do. Why should not Renelde try it?
For you shall be married the day that I am laid in my grave. And the Count turned away with a mocking laugh. Renelde trembled. Never in all Locquignol had such a thing been heard of as the spinning of nettles. And besides, the Count seemed made of iron and was very proud of his strength, often boasting that he should live to be a hundred.
Every evening, when his work was done, Guilbert came to visit his future bride. This evening he came as usual, and Renelde told him what Burchard had said. 'Would you like me to watch for the Wolf, and split his skull with a blow from my axe? 'No, replied Renelde, 'there must be no blood on my bridal bouquet. And then we must not hurt the Count. Remember how good the Countess was to my mother.
The poor girl loved him with her whole soul, and she was more unhappy than she had been before, when Burchard was only tormenting her body. 'Let us have done with it, said Guilbert. 'Wait a little still, pleaded Renelde. But the young man grew weary. He came more rarely to Locquignol, and very soon he did not come at all. Renelde felt as if her heart would break, but she held firm.
'Well, said he, 'how are the shifts getting on? 'Here, my lord, is my wedding garment, answered Renelde, showing him the shift, which was the finest and whitest ever seen. The Count grew pale, but he replied roughly, 'Very good. Now begin the other. The spinner set to work.
And as before, when she sewed the Count felt his pains grow less, and the life sinking within him, and when the needle made the last stitch he gave his last sigh. At the same hour Guilbert returned to the country, and, as he had never ceased to love Renelde, he married her eight days later.
Then the Count fell ill, and the Countess supposed that Renelde, weary of waiting, had begun her spinning anew; but when she came to the cottage to see, she found the wheel silent. However, the Count grew worse and worse till he was given up by the doctors. The passing bell was rung, and he lay expecting Death to come for him.
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