“Well,” she said, “you have done very well so far, but to-morrow is still another day, and we will see how things go then.”
On the morrow the prince rode the black mare out to pasture, and again he sat on her back so that she should not escape him. After awhile he fell asleep in spite of himself, and when he awoke he was sitting astride of a branch with the halter in his hand.
At first the prince did not know what to do; he was in despair. Then he remembered the promise the fox had made him. He took the hairs and rubbed them between his fingers.
“Little fox, if friend indeed,
Help me in my time of need,”
he said.
Immediately the little red fox came running out of the wood. “What would you have of me, brother?” he asked.
“Can you tell me where the gray woman’s black mare has gone?”
“That is easily answered. She has changed herself into a fox and is hiding with the pack. Strike the halter on the ground and call out: ‘Black mare, black mare, come from among the foxes; it is time to go home.’”