, and the
spirits flew forth like the wind.

The fugitives were just crossing a great plain, when the maiden
suddenly stopped and said, "All is not as it should be. The reel moves
in my hand, and we are certainly pursued." When they looked back, they
saw a black cloud rushing towards them with great speed. Then the maiden
turned the reel thrice in her hand and said:

"Hear me, reel, and reel, O hearken;
Fain would I become a streamlet,
Where as fish my lover's swimming."

Instantly they were both transformed. The maiden flowed away like a
brook, and the prince swam in the water like a little fish. The spirits
rushed past, and turned after a time, and flew back home; but they did
not touch the brook or the fish. As soon as the pursuers were gone, the
brook became a maiden, and the fish a youth, and they continued their
journey in human form.

When the spirits returned, weary and empty-handed, the Old Boy asked if
they had not noticed anything unusual on their journey.

"Nothing at all," they answered, "but a brook on the plain, with a
single fish swimming in it."

The old man growled angrily, "There they were! there they were!"
Immediately he threw open the doors of the fifth pen and let out the
spirits, commanding them to drink up the water of the brook, and to
capture the fish; and the spirits flew off like the wind.

The travellers were just approaching the edge of a wood, when the maiden
stopped, saying, "All is not as it should be. The reel moves again in my
hand." They looked round, and saw another cloud in the sky, darker than
the first, and with red borders. "These are our pursuers," she cried,
and turned the reel three times round in her hand, saying:

"Hear me, reel, and reel, O hear me;
Change us both upon the instant:
I'll become a wild rose-briar,
And my love a rose upon it."

Instantly the maiden was changed into a wild rose-bush, and the youth
hung upon it in the form of a rose. The spirits rushed away over their
heads, and did not return for some time; but they saw nothing of the
brook and the fish, and they did not trouble about the wild rose-tree.
As soon as their pursuers were gone, the rose-tree and the rose again
became a maiden and a youth, and after their short rest they hurried
away.

"Have you found them?" cried the old man, when the spirits returned and
crouched before him.

"No," answered their leader; "we found neither brook nor fish on the
plain."