hree _cavalheiros_
she would not have been angry. She would have wanted to help them
instead. The three _cavalheiros_ were very good and very wise, so they
managed to get along very well. As soon as they reached the enchanted
castle the fairy showed them to their beds. She had marked each bed
with a candle. No one before had ever been wise enough to blow out
these candles. These _cavalheiros_ blew out the candles and that took
away the fairy's power over them. They were able to escape from the
palace. When the wicked fairy came to put them in her magic sacks she
found the beds empty.

The three _cavalheiros_ took their horses and rode back by the same
road by which they had come. They stopped at a little shop on a corner
which was kept by a good fairy and bought one _vintem's_ worth of
ashes, one _vintem's_ worth of salt and one _vintem's_ worth of pins.

After a while the three _cavalheiros_ approached the house of the
little old woman and the little black boy. The little old woman was
still angry because they had refused to stop and help her lift her
water jar to her head. When she saw them coming she threw stones at
them. Of course that was a very stupid thing to do.

When the three _cavalheiros_ saw what was happening they were greatly
surprised. They had forgotten all about the little black boy and the
little old woman whom he had asked them to help. When they saw her
coming with the stones they thought that she must be a wicked fairy in
the form of a little old woman.

The _cavalheiro_ who had one _vintem's_ worth of ashes in his pocket
threw the ashes at her. It became night. The little old woman came on
with her stones just the same.

The _cavalheiro_ who had one _vintem's_ worth of salt in his pocket
threw the salt at her. Immediately a sea of salt water appeared
between the three _cavalheiros_ and the little old woman. The little
old woman came on with her stones just the same.

The _cavalheiro_ who had one _vintem's_ worth of pins in his pocket
threw the pins at her. Immediately a high, thorny hedge sprang out of
the ground between the little old woman and the three _cavalheiros_.

The little old woman was too angry to think clearly. If she had not
been so angry she would have known at once that this must be magic
wood. The little black boy, however, had his wits about him. He
hastened to gather the branches even though the thorns tore his hands.
Soon he had brought together a great pile of wood like