prince of the
half of his heart, and therefore he suffers unceasingly. Send him often
into the wind that the wind may bear away his sorrows into the forest."

He was not wrong, for the health of the prince soon began to improve,
his appetite grew better, and he was able to sleep at night. At last he
confided the sorrow of his heart to his parents, and his father wished
him to seek out another young bride to lead home; but the prince would
not listen to the proposal.

The young man had already passed a year in mourning, when one day he
happened to come to the bridge where he had lost his betrothed, and
bitter tears rose to his eyes at the recollection. Suddenly he heard a
sweet voice singing, although no living creature was in sight. And the
voice sang:

"By the mother's curse o'ertaken,
Sank in flood the hapless maiden,
In the watery grave the fair one,
And in Ahti's[132] waves thy darling."

The prince dismounted from his horse, and looked round everywhere to see
whether some one might not be hidden under the bridge, but he could see
no singer anywhere. The only object visible was a water-lily, swaying on
the water amid its broad leaves. But a swaying flower could not sing,
and there must be something mysterious about it. He tied his horse to a
stump on the bank, and sat down on the bridge to listen, hoping that his
eyes or ears would give him some solution of the riddle. All was still
for a while, but presently the invisible singer sang again:

"By the mother's curse o'ertaken,
Sank in flood the hapless maiden,
In the watery grave the fair one,
And in Ahti's waves thy darling."

Sometimes the wind brings a fortunate idea to men, and such was the
case now. The prince thought, "If I rode alone to the cottage in the
wood, who knows but that the gold-spinners might be able to give me some
explanation of this wonderful occurrence." He mounted his horse and rode
towards the forest. He hoped to find his way easily by the former
indications, but the wood had grown, and he rode for more than one day
before he could discover the footpath. When he drew near the cottage, he
stopped and waited, hoping that one of the maidens would come out. Early
in the morning the eldest sister came out to wash her face at the
spring. The young man went to her, and told her of the misfortune that
had happened on the bridge the year before, and of the song which he had
heard there a day or two ago. It happe