d to be surrounded by
dangers, and it was only the power of the maiden who helped him through
it all.

When he woke his first thoughts were for the girl, whom he found hard at
work. He drew water from the well and carried it to the house for her,
kindled the fire under the iron pot, and, in fact, did everything that
came into his head that could be of any use to her. In the afternoon
he went out, in order to learn something of his new home, and wondered
greatly not to come across the old grandmother. In his rambles he came
to the farmyard, where a beautiful white horse had a stall to itself; in
another was a black cow with two white-faced calves, while the clucking
of geese, ducks, and hens reached him from a distance.

Breakfast, dinner, and supper were as savoury as before, and the prince
would have been quite content with his quarters had it not been for
the difficulty of keeping silence in the presence of the maiden. On the
evening of the second day he went, as he had been told, to receive his
orders for the following morning.

'I am going to set you something very easy to do to-morrow,' said the
old man when his servant entered. 'Take this scythe and cut as much
grass as the white horse will want for its day's feed, and clean out its
stall. If I come back and find the manger empty it will go ill with you.
So beware!'

The prince left the room, rejoicing in his heart, and saying to himself,
'Well, I shall soon get through that! If I have never yet handled either
the plough or the scythe, at least I have often watched the country
people work them, and know how easy it is.'

He was just going to open his door, when the maiden glided softly past
and whispered in his ear: 'What task has he set you?'

'For to-morrow,' answered the prince, 'it is really nothing at all! Just
to cut hay for the horse, and to clean out his stall!'

'Oh, luckless being!' sighed the girl; 'how will you ever get through
with it. The white horse, who is our master's grandmother, is always
hungry: it takes twenty men always mowing to keep it in food for one
day, and another twenty to clean out its stall. How, then, do you expect
to do it all by yourself? But listen to me, and do what I tell you. It
is your only chance. When you have filled the manger as full as it will
hold you must weave a strong plait of the rushes which grow among the
meadow hay, and cut a thick peg of stout wood, and be sure that the
horse sees what you are doing. The