at nor drink, so
great was his grief. At last he became so ill his life was despaired of,
and in great alarm the King caused all the wizards of his country to be
summoned. But none could cure him. At last the wind wizard's son said to
the King: "Send for the old wizard from Finland he knows more than all
the wizards of your kingdom put together." A messenger was at once sent
to Finland, and a week later the old wizard himself arrived on the wings
of the wind. "Honored King," said the wizard, "the wind has blown this
illness upon your son, and a magic ball has snatched away his beloved.
This it is which makes him grieve so constantly. Let the wind blow upon
him that it may blow away his sorrow." Then the King made his son go
out into the wind, and he gradually recovered and told his father all.
"Forget the maiden," said the King, "and take another bride"; but the
Prince said he could never love another.

A year afterward he came suddenly upon the bridge where his beloved met
her death. As he recalled the misfortune he wept bitterly, and would
have given all he possessed to have her once more alive. In the midst
of his grief he thought he heard a voice singing, and looked round, but
could see no one. Then he heard the voice again, and it said:

"Alas! bewitched and all forsaken, 'Tis I must lie for ever here!
My beloved no thought has taken To free his bride, that was so dear."

He was greatly astonished, sprang from his horse, and looked everywhere
to see if no one were hidden under the bridge; but no one was there.
Then he noticed a yellow water-lily floating on the surface of the
water, half hidden by its broad leaves; but flowers do not sing, and
in great surprise he waited, hoping to hear more. Then again the voice
sang:

"Alas! bewitched and all forsaken,
'Tis I must lie for ever here!
My beloved no thought has taken
To free his bride, that was so dear."

The Prince suddenly remembered the gold-spinners, and said to himself:
"If I ride thither, who knows but that they could explain this to me?"
He at once rode to the hut, and found the two maidens at the fountain.
He told them what had befallen their sister the year before, and how he
had twice heard a strange song, but yet could see no singer. They said
that the yellow water-lily could be none other than their sister, who
was not dead, but transformed by the magic ball. Before he went to bed,
the eldest made a cake of magic herbs, wh