ou--you will have no rest till you
have found her. So learn--far away from here, after you have crossed
six moors and six forests, you will meet on the edge of the seventh
forest, which extends to the frontiers of the next world, an old
witch; this witch has a drove of horses, and among them is an
enchanted horse which can carry you to the other shore. But this steed
can be obtained only by the person who knows how to choose it from the
whole drove, after he has served the old witch for a year."

This was what the Poor Boy had wanted to know. He lost no more time,
thanked the Wood Witch for her explanations, and set off, keeping
straight through the dense forest, because his road was long and he
was in a hurry. The Poor Boy walked like one who goes on a good
errand, and hurried like a person who wants to get home early. How far
he walked and how much he hurried any one can imagine, who remembers
how long a time he himself required to cross a single moor and a
single forest. But, when his strength failed, he bit off a piece of
his loaf and instantly revived again.

As he came out of the sixth forest and passed near the clear waves of
a brook, he saw a wasp struggling in the water and pitied the insect.
So he took a dry branch and held out one end of it to the wasp, that
it might crawl up on it and then use its wings. But this wasp happened
to be the queen of all the wasps in the woods, and when she found
herself saved by the boy's kindness she flew upon his shoulder and
said:

"Wherever you go, may good-luck be your companion. Please pull out a
hair from under my right wing and take good care of it, for who knows
whether it will not prove useful to you some day. If you need me,
shake this hair and I'll come to you, in whatever part of the world
you may be."

The Poor Boy pulled out the hair, put it carefully away, and journeyed
on. Who knows how far he walked before he came to a great lake, on
whose shore he saw a fish flapping on the dry land. He pitied the poor
creature, which had scarcely a breath of life left, so he picked it up
and tossed it into the water. But this fish was king of all the
fishes, and had jeweled scales and golden fins. It swam once around
the lake, breathed two or three times to recover its strength, and
then came back to the boy and said:

"Wherever you go, may good-luck be your companion. Please pull off a
scale from under my right fin and keep it carefully, who knows whether
it may not b