st taken hold of the handle to lower it into the water,
when--crash! And the pitcher lay in fragments at her feet. Of course
she felt very angry, but for fear of the pasha she still held her
peace, and spent her last pence in buying a fresh pitcher. But when
this also was broken by a blow from the ball, her wrath burst forth,
and shaking her fist towards the summer-house where the boy was
hiding, she cried:

'I wish you may be punished by falling in love with the silent
princess.' And having said this she vanished.

For some time the boy paid no heed to her words--indeed he forgot
them altogether; but as years went by, and he began to think more
about things, the remembrance of the old woman's wish came back to his
mind.

'Who is the silent princess? And why should it be a punishment to fall
in love with her?' he asked himself, and received no answer. However,
that did not prevent him from putting the question again and again,
till at length he grew so weak and ill that he could eat nothing, and
in the end was forced to lie in bed altogether. His father the pasha
became so frightened by this strange disease, that he sent for every
physician in the kingdom to cure him, but no one was able to find a
remedy.

'How did your illness first begin, my son?' asked the pasha one day.
'Perhaps, if we knew that, we should also know better what to do for
you.'

Then the youth told him what had happened all those years before, when
he was a little boy, and what the old woman had said to him.

'Give me, I pray you,' he cried, when his tale was finished, 'give me,
I pray you, leave to go into the world in search of the princess, and
perhaps this evil state may cease.' And, sore though his heart was to
part from his only son, the pasha felt that the young man would
certainly die if he remained at home any longer.

'Go, and peace be with you,' he answered; and went out to call his
trusted steward, whom he ordered to accompany his young master.

Their preparations were soon made, and early one morning the two set
out. But neither old man nor young had the slightest idea where they
were going, or what they were undertaking. First they lost their way
in a dense forest, and from that they at length emerged in a
wilderness where they wandered for six months, not seeing a living
creature and finding scarcely anything to eat or drink, till they
became nothing but skin and bone, while their garments hung in
tatters about them. They ha