when they left the forest and emerged into the open country. Fortunately
the old mother did not discover her daughter's flight very early in the
morning. It was only when she found that the twists of thread had not
been wound that she asked what had become of the youngest sister, but no
one could inform her. There were many indications to show that she had
fled, and the mother immediately devised a crafty plan to punish the
fugitive. She went out and gathered a handful of nine[131] different
sorts of magic herbs, scattered charmed salt over them, and tied up the
whole in a bundle. Then she muttered curses and imprecations over the
witch-packet, and cast it to the winds, saying--

"Lend the ball thy wings, O whirlwind!
Mother of the wind, thy pinions;
Drive the witch's bundle onward,
Let it fly with wind-like swiftness,
Let it scatter death around it,
Let it cast disease beyond it."

Somewhat before noon the prince and his army arrived on the bank of a
broad river, over which a narrow bridge had been thrown, which only
permitted the soldiers to pass one by one. The prince was just riding on
the middle of the bridge, when the witch's bundle came flying along,
borne by the wind, and attacked his horse like a gadfly. The horse
snorted with terror, reared up on his hind-legs, and before any help
could be given, the maiden slid from the saddle and fell headlong into
the river. The prince would have leaped in after her, but the soldiers
seized hold of him and prevented him, for the river was of unfathomable
depth, and no human aid could avail to remedy the misfortune which had
happened.

The prince was almost distracted with grief and horror, and the soldiers
forced him to accompany them home against his will. He lay in a quiet
room for weeks mourning over the calamity, and at first refused all food
and drink. The king summoned magicians from all quarters, but none of
them could discover the nature of the disease or suggest any remedy.
But one day the son of the wind-sorcerer, who was one of the labourers
in the king's garden, advised, "Send to Finland for the oldest of all
magicians, for he is wiser than the magicians of our country."

When the king heard this, he sent a messenger to the old Finnish
sorcerer, who arrived after a week on the wings of the wind. He spoke
thus to the king: "Mighty king, the disease which afflicts the prince is
caused by the wind. An evil witch-packet has robbed the