youth continued his way, found the palace, entered, and found
everything favorable. When he saw the shears open, he went in a room and
saw a wonderful tree, on top of which was an apple. He climbed up and
tried to pick the apple, but the top of the tree swayed now this way,
now that. He waited until it was still a moment, seized the branch, and
picked the apple. He succeeded in getting safely out of the palace,
mounted his horse, and rode home, and all the time he was carrying the
apple it kept making a sound.

The aunts were again delighted because their nephew was so long absent;
but when they saw him return, they felt as though the house had fallen
on them. Again they summoned the nurse, and again she visited the young
girl, and said: "See how beautiful they are, the Dancing Water and the
Singing Apple! But should you see the Speaking Bird, there would be
nothing left for you to see." "Very well," said the young girl; "we
will see whether my brother will get it for me."

When her brother came she asked him for the Speaking Bird, and he
promised to get it for her. He met, as usual on his journey, the first
hermit, who sent him to the second, who sent him on to a third one, who
said to him: "Climb the mountain and enter the palace. You will find
many statues. Then you will come to a garden, in the midst of which is a
fountain, and on the basin is the Speaking Bird. If it should say
anything to you, do not answer. Pick a feather from the bird's wing, dip
it into a jar you will find there, and anoint all the statues. Keep your
eyes open, and all will go well."

The youth already knew well the way, and soon was in the palace. He
found the garden and the bird, which, as soon as it saw him, exclaimed:
"What is the matter, noble sir; have you come for me? You have missed
it. Your aunts have sent you to your death, and you must remain here.
Your mother has been sent to the tread-mill." "My mother in the
tread-mill?" cried the youth, and scarcely were the words out of his
mouth when he became a statue like all the others.

When the sister looked at her ring she saw that it had changed its color
to blue. "Ah!" she exclaimed, and sent her other brother after the
first. Everything happened to him as to the first. He met the three
hermits, received his instructions, and soon found himself in the
palace, where he discovered the garden with the statues, the fountain,
and the Speaking Bird.

Meanwhile the aunts, who saw that bo