his great danger.

The prince, who had been so abominably treated, sent for the most
skillful witch in the whole country to come and give him a cure for
his wounds. But Ileane had gone to the witch first and offered her a
great deal of money to let her, Ileane, go to the court in her place.
So Ileane went to the palace disguised as the witch. She ordered a
buffalo hide to be soaked in vinegar three days and three nights, then
taken out and wrapped around the wounded youth. But the prince's cuts
only burned the more, and his sufferings became still more unbearable.
When he saw that he was in a bad way, he sent for a priest that he
might relieve his heart before he died and give him the sacrament. But
Ileane was not idle. She went to the priest, offered him a large sum
of money, and induced him to let her go to the palace instead. So
Ileane arrived at the court disguised as a priest.

When she approached the prince's bed he was at the point of death,
there were scarcely three breaths left in him.

"My son," said the false priest, Ileane, "you have summoned me to
confess your sins to me. Think of the hour of death, and tell me all
you have on your heart. Are you at variance with any one? Yes, or no?"

"With no one," replied the prince, "except Ileane, the youngest
daughter of the emperor, our neighbor. And I hate her out of love and
longing," he continued. "If I should not die, but recover, I will ask
the emperor for her hand in marriage, and if I don't kill her the
first night she shall be my faithful wife according to the law."
Ileane heard these words, said a few in reply, and then went home.
Here she soon understood why her sisters were wailing and lamenting,
for they had heard that the emperor was returning home from the great
war.

"You ought to rejoice," said Ileane, "when you hear that our kind
father is coming home safe and well."

"We should rejoice," replied the sisters, "if our flowers had not
withered, our apples had not rotted, and our birds had not stopped
singing; but now we have reason to cry."

When Ileane heard these words she went to her room, saw the flower
sprinkled with dew, the bird hungry, and the apple looking as if it
wanted to say: "Eat me, little sister!"

So, to help her dear sisters, she gave the flower to one and the bird
to the other, keeping only the beautiful apple for herself. So they
waited for the arrival of the emperor, who was very stern in his
commands.

When the monarch