castle, a league
beyond the city. The queen mother, who had witnessed this violence,
fell into a swoon from which she never recovered, and the whole court
was thrown into a vast commotion.

Having buried his fair queen, the bereaved king set about to recover
his daughter, the princess Mary, but this was found to be impossible,
since the witch had locked the girl in an upper chamber of the castle
and had set a catamaran and a boogaboo to guard the place. So,
whenever the king's soldiers attempted to rescue the princess, the
catamaran breathed fire from his nostrils upon them while the boogaboo
tore out their hearts with his fierce claws.

Finally the king sent word to the witch that he would bestow upon her
all the riches of his kingdom if she would restore his daughter, but
she replied that there was only one condition upon which she would give
up the princess and that was that some young man of the kingdom should
rightly answer three questions she would propound. At once the bravest
and handsomest knights in the kingdom volunteered to rescue the
princess, but having failed to answer the questions of the old witch,
they were transformed into swans and were condemned to eke out
miserable existences in the dreary park around the old witch's castle.

"This," said the countryman, "is the story of the princess, the witch
and the swans. Every once in a while, an adventuresome youth seeks to
restore the princess to her father, and he is as surely transformed
into a swan. So, while the court is in mourning, the princess pines in
the witch's castle and the swans wander about the castle yard."

This piteous tale awakened Wilhelm's sympathy, and although it was now
quite dark, he determined to go back to the witch's castle and catch a
glimpse of the beautiful princess.

"May luck attend thee," said the countryman, "but beware of the
catamaran and the boogaboo."

As he was plodding back to the witch's castle, Wilhelm drew his
talisman from his bosom and gazed tenderly upon it. It had never
looked so bright and shining. The moon beams danced upon its smooth
face and kissed it. Wilhelm was confident that this was an omen that
his dear mother approved the errand he was on. Then he knelt down by
the roadside and said a little prayer, and when he had finished, the
night zephyrs breathed their sweetest music in his ears, and Wilhelm
thought it was the heavenly Father whispering words of encouragement to
him. So Wilhelm