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396 he thought her within reach of a shot, she again sprang far ahead of him, and at last she disappeared. He now became aware that he had ridden a great distance into the forest, and he took his horn and blew; no answer came, however, for his followers were too far off to hear his call. The night now fell, and the young king saw that it would be impossible for him to get out of the forest that day, so he dismounted, lit a fire under one of the trees and prepared to spend the night there.

As he was sitting by the fire, his animals lying near him, he thought he heard the sound of a human voice; he looked about, but could see nothing. A little while after he again heard what sounded like a groan above his head, and looking up he saw an old woman sitting on the tree, moaning to herself, and saying, "Oh! Oh! Oh! how cold I am!" So he called to her, "Come down and warm yourself if you are so cold." But she answered, "I am afraid to come down, your animals will bite me." "No, no," said the huntsman, "they will do you no harm, old mother, come along down." But the old woman was really a witch, and so she said, "I will throw you down a wand, and if you will strike them across the back with it, they will not then touch me," and so saying she threw him the wand, and he gave each of the animals a stroke with it, which silenced them, for they were immediately turned into stone. Feeling safe now from the animals, the old woman sprang down, and with another wand she had in her hand she touched the huntsman, and he was also turned into stone. At this she laughed, and took the man and his animals and laid them in a hollow, where there were already many stones of the same kind.

Now when the young king never came back, the