hemp and a field of barley. They came to the broken fence before the
Spae-Woman's house, and in front of the house they saw the Spae-Woman
herself and she was crying and crying.

The Fox hid behind the fence, the Weasel climbed up on the ditch and
Gilly himself went to the woman.

"What ails you at all?" said Gilly to her.

"My goose--the only fowl left to me has been taken by robbers."

"Ask her where the clutch of eggs is that the goose was hatching," said
Rory the Fox anxiously, putting his head over the fence.

"And where is the clutch of eggs, ma'am, that your goose was hatching?"

"The robbers took the nest with the goose and the eggs with the nest,"
said the Spae-Woman.

"And the Crystal Egg was with the other eggs," said the Fox to Gilly. He
said no more. He made a quick turn and got clear away before the Weasel
could spring on him. He ran back to his burrow. He told the little foxes
they must change houses again. That night they lay in a wood and at the
first light they crossed water and went to live on an island where the
Weasel never came.

"Where did the robbers go with the goose, the nest, and the eggs?" said
Gilly of the Goatskin.

"They went to the river," said the Spae-Woman. "I followed them every
inch of the way. They got into a boat and they hoisted their sails. They
rowed and they rowed, so that the hard gravel of the bottom was brought
to the top, and the froth of the top was driven down to the bottom of
the river. And wherever they are," said the Spae-Woman, "they are far
from us now."

"Will you come with me?" said Gilly to the Weasel, "we will track them
down and take back the Crystal Egg."

"I engaged myself to be with you for a quarter of a year," said the
Weasel, "and the three months are up now, Gilly. Winter is coming on and
I must see to my own affairs."

"Then good-by, Weasel," said Gilly. "I will search for the Crystal Egg
myself. But first I must ask the woman to let me rest in the house and
to give me some provision for my journey." The Weasel looked up into
Gilly's face and said good-by to him. Then Gilly followed the Spae-Woman
into her house. "Ocone," she was saying to herself, "my dream told me
I was to lose my poor goose, and still I never did anything to make it
hard for the robbers to take her from me."

XI

Well, in the Spae-Woman's house he stayed for three-quarters of a year.
He often went in search of the robbers who had taken the Crystal Egg
with the