She told him that her brother was at that time asleep on the blue sea , and she gave him a sword of steel and a draught of the Water of Strength , and she told him to cut off her brother 's head at a single stroke . And when he had heard these things , he went his way . And when the Prince came to the blue sea , he looked -- there slept the Norka on a stone in the middle of the sea ; and when it snored , the water was agitated for seven miles around . The Prince crossed himself , went up to it , and smote it on the head with his sword . The head jumped off , saying the while , ` Well , I 'm done for now ! ' and rolled far away into the sea . After killing the beast , the Prince went back again , picking up all the three sisters by the way , with the intention of taking them out into the upper world : for they all loved him and would not be separated from him . Each of them turned her palace into an egg -- for they were all enchantresses -- and they taught him how to turn the eggs into palaces , and back again , and they handed over the eggs to him . And then they all went to the place from which they had to be hoisted into the upper world . And when they came to where the rope was , the Prince took hold of it and made the maidens fast to it . Then he jerked away at the rope and his brothers began to haul it up . And when they had hauled it up , and had set eyes on the wondrous maidens , they went aside and said : ` Let 's lower the rope , pull our brother part of the way up , and then cut the rope . Perhaps he 'll be killed ; but then if he is n't , he 'll never give us these beauties as wives . ' So when they had agreed on this , they lowered the rope . But their brother was no fool ; he guessed what they were at , so he fastened the rope to a stone , and then gave it a pull . His brothers hoisted the stone to a great height , and then cut the rope . Down fell the stone and broke in pieces ; the Prince poured forth tears and went away . Well , he walked and walked . Presently a storm arose ; the lightning flashed , the thunder roared , the rain fell in torrents . He went up to a tree in order to take shelter under it , and on that tree he saw some young birds which were being thoroughly drenched .
So he took off his coat and covered them over XXXXX it , and he himself sat down under the tree .
After by for in into of on so that with