It was only on the next day that they missed him ; the King was very distressed at his disappearance , and sent search-parties all over the kingdom to look for him , but in vain ; and after six months they gave him up as dead , and in another six months they had forgotten all about him . But in the meantime the Prince , with the help of his ring , had had a most successful journey , and no evil had befallen him . At the end of three months he came to the entrance of a huge forest , which looked as if it had never been trodden by human foot before , and which seemed to stretch out indefinitely . The Prince was about to enter the wood by a little path he had discovered , when he heard a voice shouting to him : ` Hold , youth ! Whither are you going ? ' Iwanich turned round , and saw a tall , gaunt-looking man , clad in miserable rags , leaning on a crooked staff and seated at the foot of an oak tree , which was so much the same colour as himself that it was little wonder the Prince had ridden past the tree without noticing him . ` Where else should I be going , ' he said , ` than through the wood ? ' ` Through the wood ? ' said the old man in amazement . ` It 's easily seen that you have heard nothing of this forest , that you rush so blindly to meet your doom . Well , listen to me before you ride any further ; let me tell you that this wood hides in its depths a countless number of the fiercest tigers , hyenas , wolves , bears , and snakes , and all sorts of other monsters . If I were to cut you and your horse up into tiny morsels and throw them to the beasts , there would n't be one bit for each hundred of them . Take my advice , therefore , and if you wish to save your life follow some other path . ' The Prince was rather taken aback by the old man 's words , and considered for a minute what he should do ; then looking at his ring , and perceiving that it sparkled as brightly as ever , he called out : ` If this wood held even more terrible things than it does , I can not help myself , for I must go through it . ' Here he spurred his horse and rode on ; but the old beggar screamed so loudly after him that the Prince turned round and rode back to the oak tree . ' I am really sorry for you , ' said the beggar , ` but if you are quite determined to brave the dangers of the forest , let me at least give you a piece of advice which will help you against these monsters . ` Take this bagful of bread-crumbs and this live hare . I will make you a present of them both , as I am anxious to save your life ; but you must leave your horse behind you , for it would stumble over the fallen trees or get entangled in the briers and thorns . When you have gone about a hundred yards into the wood the wild beasts will surround you . Then you must instantly seize your bag , and scatter the bread-crumbs among them .
They will rush to eat them up greedily , and when you have scattered the last crumb you must lose no time in throwing the hare to them ; as soon as the hare feels itself on the ground it will run away as quickly as possible , and the wild beasts will turn XXXXX pursue it .
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