If not death will come to you speedily . I give you this one chance . Now go . ' The young man walked sadly away , and when he reached the palace he shut himself into his room , and for the rest of the day refused to see anyone , not even his wife . At sunset , however , as no sound could be heard through the door , the princess grew quite frightened , and made such a noise that the prince was forced to draw back the bolt and let her come in . ` How pale you look , ' she cried , ` has anything hurt you ? Tell me , I pray you , what is the matter , for perhaps I can help ! ' So the prince told her the whole story , and of the impossible task given him by the crocodile . ` How can a sand hole remain full of water ? ' asked he . ` Of course , it will all run through . The crocodile called it a `` chance '' ; but he might as well have dragged me into the river at once . He said truly that I can not escape him . ' ` Oh , if that is all , ' cried the princess , ' I can set you free myself , for my fairy godmother taught me to know the use of plants and in the desert not far from here there grows a little four-leaved herb which will keep the water in the pit for a whole year . I will go in search of it at dawn , and you can begin to dig the hole as soon as you like . To comfort her husband , the princess had spoken lightly and gaily ; but she knew very well she had no light task before her . Still , she was full of courage and energy , and determined that , one way or another , her husband should be saved . It was still starlight when she left the palace on a snow-white donkey , and rode away from the river straight to the west . For some time she could see nothing before her but a flat waste of sand , which became hotter and hotter as the sun rose higher and higher . Then a dreadful thirst seized her and the donkey , but there was no stream to quench it , and if there had been she would hardly have had time to stop , for she still had far to go , and must be back before evening , or else the crocodile might declare that the prince had not fulfilled his conditions .
So she spoke cheering words to her donkey , who brayed in reply , and the two pushed steadily XXXXX .
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