t and rosy.

'There is some magic about this,' said the king.

This state of affairs lasted some time, till one day a messenger arrived
from the Sultan bearing a letter for the king, and also three canes. 'My
master bids me say,' said the messenger, bowing low, 'that if you cannot
tell him which of these three canes grows nearest the root, which in the
middle, and which at the top, he will declare war against you.

The king was very much frightened when he heard this, and though he took
the canes and examined them closely, he could see no difference between
them. He looked so sad that his daughter noticed it, and inquired the
reason.

'Alas! my daughter,' he answered, 'how can I help being sad? The Sultan
has sent me three canes, and says that if I cannot tell him which of
them grows near the root, which in the middle, and which at the top, he
will make war upon me. And you know that his army is far greater than
mine.'

'Oh, do not despair, my father,' said she. 'We shall be sure to find out
the answer'; and she ran away to the tower, and told the young man what
had occurred.

'Go to bed as usual,' replied he, 'and when you wake, tell your father
that you have dreamed that the canes must be placed in warm water. After
a little while one will sink to the bottom; that is the one that grows
nearest the root. The one which neither sinks nor comes to the surface
is the cane that is cut from the middle; and the one that floats is from
the top.'

So, the next morning, the princess told her father of her dream, and by
her advice he cut notches in each of the canes when he took them out of
the water, so that he might make no mistake when he handed them back to
the messenger. The Sultan could not imagine how he had found out, but he
did not declare war.

The following year the Sultan again wanted to pick a quarrel with the
king of the Magyars, so he sent another messenger to him with three
foals, begging him to say which of the animals was born in the morning,
which at noon, and which in the evening. If an answer was not ready in
three days, war would be declared at once. The king's heart sank when he
read the letter. He could not expect his daughter to be lucky enough to
dream rightly a second time, and as a plague had been raging through
the country, and had carried off many of his soldiers, his army was even
weaker than before. At this thought his face became so gloomy that his
daughter noticed it, and inquired what