m a potion to drink, with
a sweet, strong taste. And when he had drunk it Martin's lips were
unsealed, and he told her that all his power lay in the magic ring that
he wore on his finger, and he described to her how to use it, and, still
speaking, he fell into a deep sleep. And when she saw that the potion
had worked, and that he was sound asleep, the Princess took the magic
ring from his finger, and, going into the courtyard, she threw it from
the palm of one hand into the other.

On the instant the twelve youths appeared, and asked her what she
commanded them to do. Then she told them that by the next morning they
were to do away with the castle, and the bridge, and the church, and
put in their stead the humble hut in which Martin used to live with his
mother, and that while he slept her husband was to be carried to his old
lowly room; and that they were to bear her away to the utmost ends of
the earth, where an old King lived who would make her welcome in his
palace, and surround her with the state that befitted a royal Princess.

'You shall be obeyed,' answered the twelve youths at the same moment.
And lo and behold! the following morning, when the King awoke and looked
out of his window he beheld to his amazement that the palace, bridge,
church, and trees had all vanished, and there was nothing in their place
but a bare, miserable-looking hut.

Immediately the King sent for his son-in-law, and commanded him to
explain what had happened. But Martin looked at his royal father-in-law,
and answered never a word. Then the King was very angry, and, calling
a council together, he charged Martin with having been guilty of
witchcraft, and of having deceived the King, and having made away with
the Princess; and he was condemned to imprisonment in a high stone
tower, with neither meat nor drink, till he should die of starvation.

Then, in the hour of his dire necessity, his old friends Schurka (the
dog) and Waska (the cat) remembered how Martin had once saved them from
a cruel death; and they took counsel together as to how they should help
him. And Schurka growled, and was of opinion that he would like to tear
everyone in pieces; but Waska purred meditatively, and scratched the
back of her ear with a velvet paw, and remained lost in thought. At the
end of a few minutes she had made up her mind, and, turning to Schurka,
said: 'Let us go together into the town, and the moment we meet a baker
you must make a rush between his