d by pity, without thinking what he was doing, ran
to the courtyard of the castle, and filled a jug with water, which he
poured over the man in the cauldron.

In a moment a most fearful crash was heard, as if all the pillars of the
palace were giving way, and the palace itself, with towers and doors,
windows and the cauldron, whirled round the bewildered Prince's head.
This continued for a few minutes, and then everything vanished into
thin air, and Iwanich found himself suddenly alone upon a desolate heath
covered with rocks and stones.

The Prince, who now realised what his heedlessness had done, cursed too
late his spirit of curiosity. In his despair he wandered on over the
heath, never looking where he put his feet, and full of sorrowful
thoughts. At last he saw a light in the distance, which came from a
miserable-looking little hut.

The owner of it was none other than the kind-hearted gaunt grey beggar
who had given the Prince the bag of bread-crumbs and the hare. Without
recognising Iwanich, he opened the door when he knocked and gave him
shelter for the night.

On the following morning the Prince asked his host if he could get him
any work to do, as he was quite unknown in the neighbourhood, and had
not enough money to take him home.

'My son,' replied the old man, 'all this country round here is
uninhabited; I myself have to wander to distant villages for my living,
and even then I do not very often find enough to satisfy my hunger. But
if you would like to take service with the old witch Corva, go straight
up the little stream which flows below my hut for about three hours, and
you will come to a sand-hill on the left-hand side; that is where she
lives.'

Iwanich thanked the gaunt grey beggar for his information, and went on
his way.

After walking for about three hours the Prince came upon a
dreary-looking grey stone wall; this was the back of the building and
did not attract him; but when he came upon the front of the house
he found it even less inviting, for the old witch had surrounded her
dwelling with a fence of spikes, on every one of which a man's skull was
stuck. In this horrible enclosure stood a small black house, which had
only two grated windows, all covered with cobwebs, and a battered iron
door.

The Prince knocked, and a rasping woman's voice told him to enter.

Iwanich opened the door, and found himself in a smoke-begrimed kitchen,
in the presence of a hideous old woman who was war