After carefully folding the letter, he fastened it with the Royal seal.
Plavacete took the letter and set off with it through the forest, which was so wide and dense that he lost his way in it. Overtaken by night in the midst of his adventurous journey, he met an old woman.
"Where are you going, Plavacete, where are you going?" she asked.
"I am intrusted with a letter for the Royal castle, but I have lost my way; can you not, good mother, set me on my right road?"
"To-day, my child, that is impossible. Darkness has come, and you would not have time to reach the Royal castle," replied the old woman. "Rest in my dwelling-place to-night—you will not be with a stranger there, for I am your god-mother."
The young man obeyed, and they entered a charming cottage which seemed suddenly to rise out of the ground. Now, while Plavacete was sleeping, the old woman changed his letter for another, running thus:—
"Immediately upon receiving this letter, conduct the bearer to the Princess, our daughter. This young man is our son-in-law, and I wish them to be married before my return to the castle. Such is my will."
"HE THREW THE BASKET AND THE INFANT INTO THE STREAM."