atest, she took a tender farewell of the Prince, and
said: 'Before I go I will hand you over all the keys of the castle. Go
everywhere and do anything you like; only one thing I beg and beseech
you, do not open the little iron door in the north tower, which is
closed with seven locks and seven bolts; for if you do, we shall both
suffer for it.'

Iwanich promised what she asked, and Militza departed, repeating her
promise to return in seven days.

When the Prince found himself alone he began to be tormented by pangs
of curiosity as to what the room in the tower contained. For two days
he resisted the temptation to go and look, but on the third he could
stand it no longer, and taking a torch in his hand he hurried to the
tower, and unfastened one lock after the other of the little iron door
until it burst open.

What an unexpected sight met his gaze! The Prince perceived a small
room black with smoke, lit up feebly by a fire from which issued long
blue flames. Over the fire hung a huge cauldron full of boiling pitch,
and fastened into the cauldron by iron chains stood a wretched man
screaming with agony.

Iwanich was much horrified at the sight before him, and asked the man
what terrible crime he had committed to be punished in this dreadful
fashion.

'I will tell you everything,' said the man in the cauldron; 'but first
relieve my torments a little, I implore you.'

'And how can I do that?' asked the Prince.

'With a little water,' replied the man; 'only sprinkle a few drops
over me and I shall feel better.'

The Prince, moved by pity, without thinking what he was doing, ran to
the courtyard of the castle, and filled a jug with water, which he
poured over the man in the cauldron.

In a moment a most fearful crash was heard, as if all the pillars of
the palace were giving way, and the palace itself, with towers and
doors, windows and the cauldron, whirled round the bewildered Prince's
head. This continued for a few minutes, and then everything vanished
into thin air, and Iwanich found himself suddenly alone upon a
desolate heath covered with rocks and stones.

The Prince, who now realised what his heedlessness had done, cursed
too late his spirit of curiosity. In his despair he wandered on over
the heath, never looking where he put his feet, and full of sorrowful
thoughts. At last he saw a light in the distance, which came from a
miserable-looking little hut.

The owner of it was none other than the kind-he