She too was allowed to escape, and now each Prince had a young fox, a young lion and a young bear to follow him.
After that the Princes met a hare and a boar, and these animals were also allowed to go unharmed because they each gave a young one to each one of the Princes to follow after and serve him.
And now the Princes came to a place where the road divided.
“I,” said the youngest, “shall take the road toward the East, where the sun rises each morning.”
“And I,” said the second, “shall journey toward the West, where it is golden at sunset.”
But the eldest Prince would take neither of these roads. “My way shall be neither toward the East nor toward the West,” said he, “but straight ahead, and when I come to a place to dwell in, there will I stop.”
The three brothers then asked their stepsister which of them she would follow, and she said she would go with the eldest Prince, for she too wished nothing better than a place to dwell in, where she could live in peace and safety.
So the three brothers parted, but first the eldest Prince cut three notches in a tree that stood at the parting of the ways. He cut one at the East, and one at the West, and one in the center between them, one for each of his brothers, and one for himself.
He told them the notch to the East was for the youngest brother, the notch to the West was for the second brother, and the one in the center belonged to himself.
“When any one of us returns to this spot,” said he, “let him place his finger first upon one notch, and then upon the other. If milk flows forth from the notch, then all is well with the one to whom it belongs, but if blood flows forth, then it means death or misfortune to that one.”