‘I am going to tend the white mare, and get one of her colts, and I am going to win the Serpent-Maiden.’
Then she said to him, ‘Go, my brother, and if you get the colt, come to me.’
He went.
Now some peasants were hunting a wolf to slay it. The wolf said, ‘Cosmas, don’t abandon me. Send the peasants the wrong way, that they may not kill me; and take one of my hairs,[16] and put it in your pocket. And whenever you think of me, there I am, wherever you may be.’
Going further, he came on a crow that had broken its wing, and it said, ‘Don’t pass me by, Cosmas; bind my wing up; and I will give you a feather to put in your pocket, and whenever you are in any difficulty, I’ll be with you.’
Going still further, he came on a fish, which said, ‘Cosmas, don’t pass me by. Tie me to your horse’s tail, and put me in the water, for I will do you much good.’ [[39]]
He did so, and put it in the water.
Then he came to the old woman who owned the white mare; and she sat before her door; and he said to her, ‘Will you give me a colt of the white mare, old one?’
The old wife said, ‘If you can find her three days running, one of her colts is yours. But if you can’t find her, I will cut off your head, and stick it on yonder stake.’
‘I’ll find her,’ he said.