my constant companion in this ruined castle.
There is one habitable room in it, in which there is a golden bed;
there you will have to live all by yourself, and don't forget that
whatever you may see or hear in the night you must not scream out, for
if you give as much as a single cry my sufferings will be doubled.'

The good-natured Princess at once left her home and her family and
hurried to the ruined castle, and took possession of the room with the
golden bed.

[Footnote 13: From the Polish. Kletke.]

When night approached she lay down, but though she shut her eyes tight
sleep would not come. At midnight she heard to her great horror some
one coming along the passage, and in a minute her door was flung wide
open and a troop of strange beings entered the room. They at once
proceeded to light a fire in the huge fire-place; then they placed a
great cauldron of boiling water on it. When they had done this, they
approached the bed on which the trembling girl lay, and, screaming and
yelling all the time, they dragged her towards the cauldron. She
nearly died with fright, but she never uttered a sound. Then of a
sudden the cock crew, and all the evil spirits vanished.

At the same moment the crow appeared and hopped all round the room
with joy. It thanked the Princess most heartily for her goodness, and
said that its sufferings had already been greatly lessened.

[Illustration: The Evil Spirits Drag the Girl to the Cauldron]

Now one of the Princess's elder sisters, who was very inquisitive, had
found out about everything, and went to pay her youngest sister a
visit in the ruined castle. She implored her so urgently to let her
spend the night with her in the golden bed, that at last the
good-natured little Princess consented. But at midnight, when the odd
folk appeared, the elder sister screamed with terror, and from this
time on the youngest Princess insisted always on keeping watch alone.

So she lived in solitude all the day-time, and at night she would have
been frightened, had she not been so brave; but every day the crow
came and thanked her for her endurance, and assured her that his
sufferings were far less than they had been.

And so two years passed away, when one day the crow came to the
Princess and said: 'In another year I shall be freed from the spell I
am under at present, because then the seven years will be over. But
before I can resume my natural form, and take possession of the
belongings of my