Then he wept and said : ` Alas ! both my brothers are dead . ' And he too set out towards the town in which his brother had ruled , and his faithful beasts followed him . When he entered the town , all the people thought it was their own prince come back to them , and they gathered round him , as they had gathered round his youngest brother , and asked him where he had been and why he had not returned . And they led him to the king 's palace , but the princess knew that he was not her husband . So when they were alone together she besought him to go and seek for his brother and bring him home . Calling his beasts round him , he set out and wandered through the woods . And he put his ear down to the earth , to listen if he could hear the sound of his brother 's beasts . And it seemed to him as if he heard a faint sound far off , but he did not know from what direction it came . So he blew on his hunting horn and listened again . And again he heard the sound , and this time it seemed to come from the direction of a fire burning in the wood . So he went towards the fire , and there the old woman was raking sticks and leaves into the embers . And he asked her if he might spend the night beside her fire . But she told him she was afraid of his beasts , and he must first allow her to give each of them a stroke with her rod . But he answered her : ` Certainly not . I am their master , and no one shall strike them but I myself . Give me the rod ' ; and he touched the fox with it , and in a moment it was turned into stone . Then he knew that the old woman was a witch , and he turned to her and said : ` Unless you restore my brothers and their beasts back to life at once , my lion will tear you in pieces . ' Then the witch was terrified , and taking a young oak tree she burnt it into white ashes , and sprinkled the ashes on the stones that stood around . And in a moment the two princes stood before their brother , and their beasts stood round them .
Then the three princes set off together XXXXX the town .
So before beside for if in into of to with