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 to go back to the town . And she answered : ` Certainly you may . But I am afraid of your beasts . May I give them a stroke with my rod , then I shall not be afraid of them . ' And he said she might , for he did not know that she was a witch . So she stretched out her rod , and in a moment the beasts and their master were turned into stone . It happened soon after that the second brother returned from his wanderings and came to the cross-roads where the three birches grew . As he went round the trees he saw that blood poured from the cuts in the bark of two of the trees . 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 XXXXX he was not her husband .
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