miller lying sleeping she
inquired of his friend what had chanced to him. The man acquainted her
with the adventure of the apples, and the Princess told him that the
old woman from whom he had purchased them was a sorceress.

"Alas!" she said, "I am unable to take him with me in this condition,
but I will come to this place to-morrow and again on the following
day, and if he be awake I will transport him hence in my chariot. Here
are a golden pear and a handkerchief; give him these and tell him that
I will come again."

She disappeared in her star-coloured equipage. Shortly afterward the
miller wakened, and his friend told him what had occurred and gave him
the pear and the kerchief. The next day the friends once more repaired
to the spot where the Princess had vanished, but in thoughtlessness
the miller had eaten of the third apple, and once more the Princess
found him asleep. In sorrow she promised to return next day for the
last time, once more leaving a golden pear and a handkerchief with his
friend, to whom she said:

"If he is not awake when I come to-morrow he will have to cross three
powers and three seas in order to find me."

Unluckily, however, the miller was still asleep when the Princess
appeared on the following day. She repeated what she had said to his
friend concerning the ordeal that the unfortunate miller would have to
face before he might see her again, and ere she took her departure
left a third pear and a third handkerchief behind her. When the miller
awoke and found that she had gone he went nearly crazy with grief, but
nevertheless he declared his unalterable intention of regaining the
Princess, even if he should have to travel to the ends of the earth in
search of her. Accordingly he set out to find her abode. He walked and
walked innumerable miles, until at last he came to a great forest. As
he arrived at its gloomy borders night fell, and he considered it
safest to climb a tree, from which, to his great satisfaction, he
beheld a light shining in the distance. Descending, he walked in the
direction of the light, and found a tiny hut made of the branches of
trees, in which sat a little old man with a long white beard.

"Good evening, grandfather," said the miller.

"Good evening, my child," replied the old man. "I behold you with
pleasure, for it is eighty years since I have seen any human being."

The miller entered the hut and sat down beside the old man, and after
some conversation t