And she too begged them not to shoot her , and she would give each of them a cub . And so it happened with a fox , a hare , a boar , and a bear , till each prince had quite a following of young beasts padding along behind him . Towards evening they came to a clearing in the wood , where three birches grew at the crossing of three roads . The eldest prince took an arrow , and shot it into the trunk of one of the birch trees . Turning to his brothers he said : ` Let each of us mark one of these trees before we part on different ways . When any one of us comes back to this place , he must walk round the trees of the other two , and if he sees blood flowing from the mark in the tree he will know that that brother is dead , but if milk flows he will know that his brother is alive . ' So each of the princes did as the eldest brother had said , and when the three birches were marked by their arrows they turned to their step-sister and asked her with which of them she meant to live . ` With the eldest , ' she answered . Then the brothers separated from each other , and each of them set out down a different road , followed by their beasts . And the step-sister went with the eldest prince . After they had gone a little way along the road they came into a forest , and in one of the deepest glades they suddenly found themselves opposite a castle in which there lived a band of robbers . The prince walked up to the door and knocked . The moment it was opened the beasts rushed in , and each seized on a robber , killed him , and dragged the body down to the cellar . Now , one of the robbers was not really killed , only badly wounded , but he lay quite still and pretended to be dead like the others . Then the prince and his step-sister entered the castle and took up their abode in it . The next morning the prince went out hunting . Before leaving he told his step-sister that she might go into every room in the house except into the cave where the dead robbers lay . But as soon as his back was turned she forgot what he had said , and having wandered through all the other rooms she went down to the cellar and opened the door . As soon as she looked in the robber who had only pretended to be dead sat up and said to her : ` Do n't be afraid . Do what I tell you , and I will be your friend .
If you marry me you will be much happier XXXXX me than with your brother .
Before Towards along down like of opposite out to with