of her magic were of so little avail, she had recourse to
cunning. She threw a lot of gold nuts into the pond, hoping in this
way to catch the duck, but all her efforts were fruitless, for the
little creature refused to let itself be caught.

Then a new idea struck the wicked old woman, and hiding herself behind
the rock which had sheltered the fugitives, she waited behind it,
watching carefully for the moment when the Prince and her daughter
should resume their natural forms and continue their journey.

She had not to wait long, for as soon as the girl thought her mother
was safely out of the way, she changed herself and the Prince once
more into their human shape, and set out cheerfully for the river.

But they had not gone many steps when the wicked Fairy hurried after
them, a drawn dagger in her hand, and was close upon them, when
suddenly, instead of the Prince and her daughter, she found herself in
front of a great stone church, whose entrance was carefully guarded by
a huge monk.

Breathless with rage and passion, she tried to plunge her dagger into
the monk's heart, but it fell shattered in pieces at her feet. In her
desperation she determined to pull down the church, and thus to
destroy her two victims for ever. She stamped three times on the
ground, and the earth trembled, and both the church and the monk began
to shake. As soon as the Fairy saw this she retreated to some distance
from the building, so as not to be hurt herself by its fall. But once
more her scheme was doomed to failure, for hardly had she gone a yard
from the church than both it and the monk disappeared, and she found
herself in a wood black as night, and full of wolves and bears and
wild animals of all sorts and descriptions.

Then her wrath gave place to terror, for she feared every moment to be
torn in pieces by the beasts who one and all seemed to defy her power.
She thought it wisest to make her way as best she could out of the
forest, and then to pursue the fugitives once more and accomplish
their destruction either by force or cunning.

In the meantime the Prince and the black girl had again assumed their
natural forms, and were hurrying on as fast as they could to reach the
river. But when they got there they found that there was no way in
which they could cross it, and the girl's magic art seemed no longer
to have any power. Then turning to the Prince she said, 'The hour for
my deliverance has not yet come, but as you promised