noticed something strange
in one of the corners of the room. It was a dark patch, and seemed, as
she looked, to grow longer and longer, and to be moving slowly towards
the cushions on which the prince was lying. She shrank in terror, but,
slight as was the noise, the thing heard it, and raised its head to
listen. Then she saw it was the long flat head of a serpent, and the
recollection of the prophecy rushed into her mind. Without waking her
husband, she glided out of bed, and taking up a heavy bowl of milk
which stood on a table, laid it on the floor in the path of the
serpent--for she knew that no serpent in the world can resist milk.
She held her breath as the snake drew near, and watched it throw up
its head again as if it was smelling something nice, while its forky
tongue darted out greedily. At length its eyes fell upon the milk, and
in an instant it was lapping it so fast that it was a wonder the
creature did not choke, for it never took its head from the bowl as
long as a drop was left in it. After that it dropped on the ground and
slept heavily. This was what the princess had been waiting for, and,
catching up her husband's sword, she severed the snake's head from its
body.

The morning after this adventure the prince and princess set out for
the king's palace, but found, when they reached it, that he was
already dead. They gave him a magnificent burial, and then the prince
had to examine the new laws which had been made in his absence, and do
a great deal of business besides, till he grew quite ill from fatigue,
and was obliged to go away to one of his palaces on the banks of the
river, in order to rest. Here he soon got better, and began to hunt,
and to shoot wild duck with his bow; and wherever he went, his dog,
now grown very old, went with him.

One morning the prince and his dog were out as usual, and in chasing
their game they drew near the bank of the river. The prince was
running at full speed after his dog when he almost fell over something
that looked like a log of wood, which was lying in his path. To his
surprise a voice spoke to him, and he saw that the thing which he had
taken for a branch was really a crocodile.

'You cannot escape from me,' it was saying, when he had gathered his
senses again. 'I am your fate, and wherever you go, and whatever you
do, you will always find me before you. There is only one means of
shaking off my power. If you can dig a pit in the dry sand which will
remain