And when the king saw these tokens he knew that the prince was speaking the truth . So the coachman was bound in chains and thrown into prison , and the prince was married to the princess and rewarded with half the kingdom . One day , soon after his marriage , the prince was walking through the woods in the evening , followed by his faithful beasts . Darkness came on , and he lost his way , and wandered about among the trees looking for the path that would lead him back to the palace . As he walked he saw the light of a fire , and making his way to it he found an old woman raking sticks and dried leaves together , and burning them in a glade of the wood . As he was very tired , and the night was very dark , the prince determined not to wander further . So he asked the old woman if he might spend the night beside her fire . ` Of course you may , ' she answered . ` But I am afraid of your beasts . Let me hit them with my rod , and then I shall not be afraid of them . ' ` Very well , ' said the prince , ' I do n't mind ' ; and she stretched out her rod and hit the beasts , and in one moment they were turned into stone , and so was the prince . Now soon after this the prince 's youngest brother came to the cross-roads with the three birches , where the brothers had parted from each other when they set out on their wanderings . Remembering what they had agreed to do , he walked round the two trees , and when he saw that blood oozed from the cut in the eldest prince 's tree he knew that his brother must be dead . So he set out , followed by his beasts , and came to the town over which his brother had ruled , and where the princess he had married lived . And when he came into the town all the people were in great sorrow because their prince had disappeared . But when they saw his youngest brother , and the beasts following him , they thought it was their own prince , and they rejoiced greatly , and told him how they had sought him everywhere . Then they led him to the king , and he too thought that it was his son-in-law . But the princess knew that he was not her husband , and she begged him to go out into the woods with his beasts , and to look for his brother till he found him . So the youngest prince set out to look for his brother , and he too lost his way in the wood and night overtook him . Then he came to the clearing among the trees , where the fire was burning and where the old woman was raking sticks and leaves into the flames .
And he asked her if he might spend the night beside her fire , as it was too late and too dark XXXXX go back to the town .
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