front of the cave, and here the Princess
knocked and begged for admission. The mother of the Wind had pity on her
and took her in, that she might rest a little. Here too she was hidden
away, so that the Wind might not notice her.

The next morning the mother of the Wind told her that her husband was
living in a thick wood, so thick that no axe had been able to cut a way
through it; here he had built himself a sort of house by placing trunks
of trees together and fastening them with withes and here he lived
alone, shunning human kind.

After the mother of the Wind had given the Princess a chicken to eat,
and had warned her to take care of the bones, she advised her to go by
the Milky Way, which at night lies across the sky, and to wander on till
she reached her goal.

Having thanked the old woman with tears in her eyes for her hospitality,
and for the good news she had given her, the Princess set out on her
journey and rested neither night nor day, so great was her longing to
see her husband again. On and on she walked until her last pair of shoes
fell in pieces. So she threw them away and went on with bare feet, not
heeding the bogs nor the thorns that wounded her, nor the stones that
bruised her. At last she reached a beautiful green meadow on the edge of
a wood. Her heart was cheered by the sight of the flowers and the soft
cool grass, and she sat down and rested for a little. But hearing
the birds chirping to their mates among the trees made her think with
longing of her husband, and she wept bitterly, and taking her child in
her arms, and her bundle of chicken bones on her shoulder, she entered
the wood.

For three days and three nights she struggled through it, but could find
nothing. She was quite worn out with weariness and hunger, and even
her staff was no further help to her, for in her many wanderings it had
become quite blunted. She almost gave up in despair, but made one last
great effort, and suddenly in a thicket she came upon the sort of house
that the mother of the Wind had described. It had no windows, and the
door was up in the roof. Round the house she went, in search of steps,
but could find none. What was she to do? How was she to get in? She
thought and thought, and tried in vain to climb up to the door. Then
suddenly she be-thought her of the chicken bones that she had dragged
all that weary way, and she said to herself: 'They would not all have
told me to take such good care of these bones i