He wondered at these presents, and asked her to tell him why the first old woman had given him a piece of bread, the second a nut, and she herself now a walnut. The old woman answered, “The bread is to throw to the beasts before the house, that they may not eat you; and, when you find yourself in the greatest danger, ask counsel, first from the nut, and then from the walnut.”
Then the king’s son continued his wandering, till he [[34]]came at last to a thick forest, in the midst of which he saw a house with only a single window. When he came near it he was attacked by a multitude of beasts of all kinds, and, following the advice of the old woman, he threw the bit of bread towards them. Then the beasts came and smelt at the bread one after the other, and, upon doing so, each drew his tail between his legs and lay down quietly.
“The old witch spat on the fire”
The house had no door, and but one window, which was very high above the ground, so high that do what he could he was not able to reach it. Suddenly he saw a woman letting down her golden hair, so he rushed and caught hold of it, and she drew him up thereby into the house. Then he saw that the woman was she for whose sake he had come to this place. The prince and the girl were equally pleased to see each other, and she said, “Thank God that my mother happened to be from home. She is gone into the forest to gather the plants by the aid of which she transforms into beasts all the young men who venture here to ask me to be their wife. Those are the beasts who would have killed you, if God had not helped you. But let us fly away from this place.” So they fled away through the forest as quickly as they could. As they happened to look back, however, they saw that the girl’s mother was pursuing them, and they became frightened. The old woman was already very near them before the prince remembered his nut. He took it out quickly and asked, “For God’s sake! tell me what we must do now!” The nut replied, [[35]]“Open me.” The prince opened it, and from the little nut flowed out a large river, which stopped the way, so that for a time the girl’s mother could not pass. However, she touched the waters with her staff, and they immediately divided and left her a dry path, so that she could run on quickly after the prince and the girl.
When the prince saw she would soon come up with them he took out the walnut and asked, “Tell me, what must we do now?” And the walnut replied, “Break me.” The king’s son broke the walnut, and a great fire flamed out from it—so great a fire that the whole forest barely escaped being consumed by it. But the girl’s mother spat on the fire, and it extinguished itself in a moment. Then the king’s son saw that these were nothing but the jugglings of the devil, so he turned eastward, made the sign of the cross, and called on the mighty God to help him. Then it suddenly thundered and lightened, and from heaven flashed a thunderbolt which struck the mother of the girl, and she fell dead upon the ground.
Thus at length the king’s son arrived safely at home, and when the girl had been made a Christian, he married her. [[36]]
GOOD DEEDS ARE NEVER LOST
In days gone by there lived a married couple who had one only son. When he grew up they made him learn something which would be of use to him in afterlife. He was a kind, quiet boy, and feared God greatly. After his schooling was finished his father gave him a ship, freighted with various sorts of merchandise, so that he might go and trade about the world, and grow rich, and become a help to his parents in their old age. The son put to sea, and one day the ship he was in met with a Turkish vessel in which he heard great weeping and wailing. So he demanded of the Turkish sailors, “Pray tell me why there is so much wailing on board your ship?” and they answered, “We are carrying slaves which we have captured in different countries, and those who are chained are weeping.”