had flown. Then she looked into the vessels,
and saw all three full of blood, and cried: "I have been betrayed! I
have been betrayed!"

She called her father, and told him that she had been betrayed by her
sisters, and that she wished to go away and see whether she could cure
her husband. She departed, and had not gone far when she found herself
in a forest. There she saw a little house, with a little bit of a door,
at which she knocked, and heard a voice saying, "Are you Christians?"
She replied, "Yes." Then the door opened, and she saw a holy hermit, who
said: "Blessed one, how did you get here? In a moment the witches will
come who might bewitch you." She replied: "Father, I am seeking King
Bean, who is ill." The hermit said: "I know nothing about him. Climb
that tree; the witches will soon come, and you will learn something from
them. If you want anything afterward, come to me, and I will give it to
you."

When she was up the tree she heard a loud noise and the words, "Here we
are! here we are!" and all the witches run and seat themselves on the
ground in the midst of the forest, and begin to say: "The cripple is not
here! Where has that cursed cripple gone?" Some one answered: "Here she
is coming!" Another said: "You cursed cripple, where have you been?" The
cripple answered: "Be still; I will tell you now. But wait a moment
until I shake this tree to see whether there is any one in it." The
poor girl held on firmly so as not to fall down. After she had shaken it
this cripple said to her companions: "Do you want me to tell you
something? King Bean has only two hours to live." Another witch said:
"What is the matter with him?" The cripple answered: "He had a wife, and
she put some broken glass in the three vessels, and he filled his body
with it." Another witch asked: "Is there nothing that can cure him?" The
cripple replied: "It is very difficult." Another said: "What would be
necessary?" The cripple said: "Listen to what it needs. One of us must
be killed, and her blood put in a kettle, and have added to it the blood
of one of these doves flying about here. When this blood is well mixed,
it must be heated, and with this blood the whole body of the king must
be anointed. Another thing yet is necessary. Under the stone you see
there is a flask of water. The stone must be removed, a bottle of the
water must be poured over the king, and all the bits of glass will come
out of him, and in five minutes he will be safe