ays lit, you will have to fetch the wood for it
from the forest, and you will have the charge of the black horse in
the stables. I will pay you a florin a day, and at meal times you will
always find the table in the hall spread with food and wine, and you can
eat and drink as much as you require.'

The prince was satisfied, and he entered the old man's service, and
promised to see that there was always wood on the stove, so that the
fire should never die out. Now, though he did not know it, his new
master was a magician, and the flame of the stove was a magic fire,
and if it had gone out the magician would have lost a great part of his
power.

One day the prince forgot, and let the fire burn so low that it very
nearly burnt out. Just as the flame was flickering the old man stormed
into the room.

'What do you mean by letting the fire burn so low?' he growled. 'I have
only arrived in the nick of time.' And while the prince hastily threw a
log on the stove and blew on the ashes to kindle a glow, his master gave
him a severe box on the ear, and warned him that if ever it happened
again it would fare badly with him.

One day the prince was sitting disconsolate in the stables when, to his
surprise, the black horse spoke to him.

'Come into my stall,' it said, 'I have something to say to you. Fetch my
bridle and saddle from that cupboard and put them on me. Take the bottle
that is beside them; it contains an ointment which will make your hair
shine like pure gold; then put all the wood you can gather together on
to the stove, till it is piled quite high up.'

So the prince did what the horse told him; he saddled and bridled the
horse, he put the ointment on his hair till it shone like gold, and he
made such a big fire in the stove that the flames sprang up and set fire
to the roof, and in a few minutes the palace was burning like a huge
bonfire.

Then he hurried back to the stables, and the horse said to him:
'There is one thing more you must do. In the cupboard you will find a
looking-glass, a brush and a riding-whip. Bring them with you, mount
on my back, and ride as hard as you can, for now the house is burning
merrily.'

The prince did as the horse bade him. Scarcely had he got into the
saddle than the horse was off and away, galloping at such a pace
that, in a short time, the forest and all the country belonging to the
magician lay far behind them.

In the meantime the magician returned to his palace, which h