"Don't give me to the king of the Golden Horse!" she said. "I want to stay with Janko who has rescued me!"
"But unless I give up the Golden Maiden," Janko asked, "how can I get the Golden Horse?"
"Perhaps I can help you," the Little Fox said. "Perhaps I can enchant myself into looking like the Golden Maiden."
With that the Little Fox leaped up in the air, turned this way and that, and lo! you might have thought her the Golden Maiden except that her eyes were still fox's eyes.
"Now leave the Maiden outside here hidden in her Golden Cradle and take me in to the master of the stable. Exchange me for the Golden Horse and make off at once. Then pick up the Golden Maiden in her Golden Cradle and ride away and soon I'll join you."
Janko did this very thing. He took in the fox maiden and exchanged her for the Golden Horse and instantly rode off as the Little Fox had told him.
The king of the stable at once called all his courtiers together and showed them the fox maiden.
"See," he said, "this is the Golden Maiden who has never seen the sun! She is the most beautiful maiden in the world and she now belongs to me!"
The courtiers looked at her and admired her, but one of them a little keener than the others said:
"Yes, she's very beautiful and all that but look at her eyes. They don't look like maiden's eyes but like fox's eyes!"