gone, the king called all his courtiers together
and showed them the fox horse.

"See my Golden Horse!" he said. "Isn't it the most beautiful horse in
the world!"

"It is! It is!" they all told him.

But one courtier, a little keener than the rest, remarked:

"What a curious tail for a horse to have! It is like a fox's tail!"

At the word _fox_ the false horse changed back into a fox and went
scampering off.

"See what you've done with your nonsense!" cried the king. "You have
lost me my Golden Horse and now you shall lose your own life!" And he
ordered the courtier to be executed at once.

The Fox soon caught up with the real Golden Horse and with Janko and the
Golden Maiden who were holding in their arms the Golden Cradle and the
Golden Apple-Tree.

"It will never do to give up the Golden Apple-Tree," the Fox said, "for
it, too, rightly belongs to the Golden Maiden. I'll have to see again if
I can help you."

So when they neared the garden of the Magic Grape-Vine, the Little Fox
leaped in the air, turned this way; and that, and lo! you might have
thought her the Golden Apple-Tree except that her fruit instead of being
round was long and pointed like a fox's head.

[Illustration: _The Golden Maiden, the Farmer and the Empty Ghost_]

Janko gave the king the fox tree and received in return the Magic
Grape-Vine that really belonged to his father and not to the king at
all. He hurried back to the Golden Maiden who was waiting for him with
the Golden Horse and the Golden Apple-Tree and the Golden Cradle and off
they all went.

The king was delighted with his fox tree and called his courtiers to
come and admire it.

"Beautiful! Beautiful!" they all said, and one of them examining the
fruit carefully remarked:

"But see these apples! They are not round like apples but long and
pointed like a fox's head!"

He had no sooner said the word _fox_ than the tree turned into a fox and
went scampering off.

"See what you've done with your nonsense!" cried the king. "You have
lost me my Golden Apple-Tree and now I shall lose you your head!" And he
ordered the courtier to be executed at once.

When the Fox caught up with the Golden Horse, she said to Janko:

"Now, my brother, it is time for us to part. You have the Magic
Grape-Vine and soon your father's left eye will no longer weep. Besides,
you are carrying home the Golden Maiden on her own Golden Horse and with
her Golden Apple-Tree and her Golden Cradle. God