end of him."

Sharkan hid himself in the tenth chamber and Vitazko, when he entered
the castle, found his mother alone.

"It's no use, my son," she moaned. "I can't eat the suckling. Nothing
will help me now but the Water of Life and the Water of Death. Of course
you don't love me well enough to get me some of both."

"I do! I do!" poor Vitazko cried. "There's nothing I won't get for you
to make you well!"

He snatched up his beech-tree again and hurried back to St. Nedyelka.

"What is it now?" the old woman asked.

"Can you tell me, dear St. Nedyelka, where I can find the Water of Life
and the Water of Death? My poor mother is still sick and she says that
nothing else will cure her."

"The Waters of Life and of Death are difficult to get," Nedyelka
said. "However, dear boy, I will help you. Take these two pitchers
and again mount the faithful Tatosh. He will carry you to the two
shores under which flow the springs of the Water of Life and the
Water of Death. The right shore opens for a moment on the instant of
noon and under it the Water of Life bubbles up. The left shore opens
for a moment at midnight and under it lies the still pool of the
Water of Death. Wait at each shore until the moment it opens. Then
reach in and scoop up a pitcher of water. Be swift or the shores
will close upon you and kill you."

Vitazko took the two pitchers and mounted Tatosh. The horse rose on the
wind and carried Vitazko far, far away beyond the Red Sea to the two
shores of which old Nedyelka had told him.

At the moment of noon the right shore opened for an instant and Vitazko
scooped up a pitcher of the Water of Life. He had scarcely time to draw
back before the opening closed with a crash.

He waited at the left shore until midnight. At the moment of midnight
the left shore opened for an instant. Vitazko scooped up a pitcher of
water from the still pool of the Water of Death and pulled swiftly back
as the opening closed.

With the two pitchers safe in his hands, Vitazko mounted Tatosh and the
magic steed rising on the wind carried him home to St. Nedyelka.

"And how did things go?" the old woman asked.

"Very well," Vitazko said. "See, here are the Waters."

St. Nedyelka took the two pitchers and when Vitazko wasn't looking
changed them for two pitchers of ordinary water which she told him to
carry at once to his mother.

At the castle the mother and Sharkan were again making merry when from
afar they saw Vitazko wi