ped over the wide
world. The witch baby stopped her work and listened. She heard the
music of the dulcimer, so she made sure he was still there. She went
on sharpening her teeth with a file, and growing bigger and bigger
every minute. And all the time the music of the dulcimer sounded among
the ruins.

As soon as her teeth were quite sharp she rushed off to eat little
Prince Ivan. She tore aside the walls of the room. There was nobody
there--only a little gray mouse running and jumping this way and that
on the strings of the dulcimer.

When it saw the witch baby the little mouse ran across the floor and
into the crack and away, so that she never caught it. How the witch
baby gnashed her teeth! Poker and tongs, poker and tongs--what a noise
they made! She swelled up, bigger and bigger, till she was a baby as
high as the palace. And then she jumped up so that the palace fell to
pieces about her. Then off she ran after little Prince Ivan.

Little Prince Ivan, on the big black horse, heard a noise behind him.
He looked back, and there was the huge witch, towering over the trees.
She was dressed like a little baby, and her eyes flashed and her teeth
clanged as she shut her mouth. She was running with long strides,
faster even than the black horse could gallop--and he was the best
horse in all the world.

Little Prince Ivan threw down the handkerchief that had been sewn by
the two old women who had eaten the apples of youth. It turned into a
deep, broad lake, so that the witch baby had to swim--and swimming is
slower than running. It took her a long time to get across, and all
that time Prince Ivan was galloping on, never stopping for a moment.

The witch baby crossed the lake and came thundering after him. Close
behind she was, and would have caught him; but the giant Tree-rooter
saw the little Prince galloping on the big black horse, and the witch
baby tearing after him. He pulled up the great oaks in armfuls, and
threw them down just in front of the witch baby. He made a huge pile
of the big trees, and the witch baby had to stop and gnaw her way
through them with her iron teeth.

It took her a long time to gnaw through the trees, and the black horse
galloped and galloped ahead. But presently Prince Ivan heard a noise
behind him. He looked back, and there was the witch baby, thirty feet
high, racing after him, clanging with her teeth. Close behind she
was, and the little Prince sat firm on the big black horse, and
g