“Is there nothing left, then, mother, of our lands?”
“Nothing, my son, save a little Cross on a red ribbon and a Golden Girdle,” answered his mother.
When Relya heard that, he cried:
“I am going, mother, and I shall bring back that Cross and Girdle, wherever they may be! Threefold will the sight of them increase my princely strength!”
And then he asked:
“And where did you leave the Cross and the Girdle, mother? Did you leave them with the chief of your captains for him and your great army to guard?”
“No, my son,” replied the princess, “and it is a good thing that I did not, for my captains and my great army went over to the enemy, and are now feasting and drinking with the enemy and wasting my lands.”
“Did you perhaps leave them in the lowest room of your castle, in the seventh vault, under seven locks?”
“No, my son, and it is a good thing that I did not, because the enemy got into my castle, broke open and ransacked its secret chambers, searched its nine vaults, and fed his horses upon pearls out of my treasure hoards,” replied the princess.
“But where did you leave the Golden Girdle and the Cross on the red ribbon?” asked Relya, with flashing eyes.