So saying, she went away and left the girl very sad, for she wished for the three things without which her home was incomplete.
On the return of her brothers, they asked her why she looked so sad; and she told them of the old woman’s visit, and what she had said.
“If that is all,” cried the eldest brother, “I will go and bring you all three things.”
The sister at first cried very much, and begged of him not to go, but at last she consented; and as he bade her good-bye, he gave her a string of beads, saying: “As long as I am well, these beads will be separate from each other; but should any misfortune overtake me, or I should die, the beads will be no longer separate, but will be joined together.”
Then he mounted his horse and rode away.
On the way he met an old Fakir. This old man’s face was covered with hair, so that he could not see, and he had a very long grey beard.
The boy looked at him, and said: “Let me shave you, and you will be able to see better.”
So the Fakir allowed himself to be shaved, after which he asked the youth where he was going, and on hearing, he advised him not to go. “For,” said he, “many have already gone on that quest, but have never returned.”
Yet the boy persisted. So the old Fakir gave him a ball, and said: “Keep throwing this before you as you go. Stop where the ball stops, and heed no sounds or interruptions on the way.”
The ball went in the direction of a high mountain, and the boy followed; but in the mountain there were strange hissing sounds and voices all around, which kept shouting to him, and asking who he was and where he came from.