hat Yirik had
accomplished his second task.

The next day the king said:

"I could never allow my daughter, Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired, to go
to the kingdom of your master unless she carried with her two flasks,
one filled with the Water of Life, the other with the Water of Death. So
today for a third task I set you this: to bring the princess a flask of
the Water of Life and a flask of the Water of Death."

Yirik had no idea which way to turn. He had heard of the Waters of Life
and Death, but all he knew about them was that their springs were far
away beyond the Red Sea. He left the Crystal Palace and walked off
aimlessly until his feet had carried him of themselves into a dark
forest.

"If only those young ravens were here," he said aloud, "they could help
me!"

Instantly he heard a loud, "Caw! Caw!" and two ravens flew down to him,
saying:

"We are here! We are here to help you! What do you want us to do?"

"I have to bring the king a flask of the Water of Life and a flask of
the Water of Death and I don't know where the springs are. Do you know?"

"Yes, we know," the ravens said. "Wait here and we'll soon fetch you
water from both springs."

They flew off and in a short time returned, each bearing a gourd of the
precious water.

Yirik thanked the ravens and carefully filled his two flasks.

As he was leaving the forest, he came upon a great spider web. An ugly
spider sat in the middle of it sucking a fly. Yirik took a drop of the
Water of Death and flicked it on the spider. The spider doubled up dead
and fell to the ground like a ripe cherry.

Then Yirik sprinkled a drop of Living Water on the fly. The fly
instantly revived, pulled itself out of the web, and flew about happy
and free once again.

"Thank you, Yirik," it buzzed, "thank you for bringing me back to life.
You won't be sorry. Just wait and you'll soon see that I'll reward you!"

When Yirik returned to the palace and presented the two flasks, the king
said:

"But one thing yet remains. You may take Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired,
but you must yourself pick her out from among the twelve sisters."

The king led Yirik into a great hall. The twelve princesses were seated
about a table, beautiful maidens all and each looking much like the
others. Yirik could not tell which was Zlatovlaska, the Golden-Haired,
for each princess wore a long heavy white veil so draped over her head
and shoulders that it completely covered her hair.

"Here