he head resting on her shoulder,
drew it towards her and kissed it. Then she drew it all out of the
tub, and wound it round her body. It was one of those dreadful
creatures which few have ever beheld--the White Snakes of Darkness.

Then she took the keys and went down to her cellar; and as she unlocked
the door she said to herself,--

"This is worth living for!"

Locking the door behind her, she descended a few steps into the cellar,
and crossing it, unlocked another door into a dark, narrow passage.
She locked this also behind her, and descended a few more steps. If
any one had followed the witch-princess, he would have heard her unlock
exactly one hundred doors, and descend a few steps after unlocking
each. When she had unlocked the last, she entered a vast cave, the
roof of which was supported by huge natural pillars of rock. Now this
roof was the under side of the bottom of the lake.

She then untwined the snake from her body, and held it by the tail high
above her. The hideous creature stretched up its head towards the roof
of the cavern, which it was just able to reach. It then began to move
its head backwards and forwards, with a slow oscillating motion, as if
looking for something. At the same moment the witch began to walk
round and round the cavern, coming nearer to the centre every circuit;
while the head of the snake described the same path over the roof that
she did over the floor, for she kept holding it up. And still it kept
slowly oscillating. Round and round the cavern they went, ever
lessening the circuit, till at last the snake made a sudden dart, and
clung to the roof with its mouth.

"That's right, my beauty!" cried the princess; "drain it dry."

She let it go, left it hanging, and sat down on a great stone, with her
black cat, which had followed her all round the cave, by her side.
Then she began to knit and mutter awful words. The snake hung like a
huge leech, sucking at the stone; the cat stood with his back arched,
and his tail like a piece of cable, looking up at the snake; and the
old woman sat and knitted and muttered. Seven days and seven nights
they remained thus; when suddenly the serpent dropped from the roof as
if exhausted, and shrivelled up till it was again like a piece of dried
seaweed. The witch started to her feet, picked it up, put it in her
pocket, and looked up at the roof. One drop of water was trembling on
the spot where the snake had been sucking. As soon