But the prince was foolish enough to choose the fattest : and when they had started and the princess saw what he had done , she was very sorry , for though this horse ran like the wind , the other flashed like thought . However , it was dangerous to go back , and they rode on as fast as the horse would go . In the night the king sent for his youngest daughter , and as she did not come he sent again ; but she did not come any the more for that . The queen , who was a witch , discovered that her daughter had gone off with the prince , and told her husband he must leave his bed and go after them . The king got slowly up , groaning with pain , and dragged himself to the stables , where he saw the lean horse still in his stall . Leaping on his back he shook the reins , and his daughter , who knew what to expect and had her eyes open , saw the horse start forward , and in the twinkling of an eye changed her own steed into a cell , the prince into a hermit , and herself into a nun . When the king reached the chapel , he pulled up his horse and asked if a girl and a young man had passed that way . The hermit raised his eyes , which were bent on the ground , and said that he had not seen a living creature . The king , much disgusted at this news , and not knowing what to do , returned home and told his wife that , though he had ridden for miles , he had come across nothing but a hermit and a nun in a cell . ` Why those were the runaways , of course , ' she cried , flying into a passion , ` and if you had only brought a scrap of the nun 's dress , or a bit of stone from the wall , I should have had them in my power . ' At these words the king hastened back to the stable , and brought out the lean horse who travelled quicker than thought . But his daughter saw him coming , and changed her horse into a plot of ground , herself into a rose-tree covered with roses , and the prince into a gardener . As the king rode up , the gardener looked up from the tree which he was trimming and asked if anything was the matter . ` Have you seen a young man and a girl go by ? ' said the king , and the gardener shook his head and replied that no one had passed that way since he had been working there . So the king turned his steps homewards and told his wife . ` Idiot ! ' cried she , ` if you had only brought me one of the roses , or a handful of earth , I should have had them in my power . But there is no time to waste . I shall have to go with you myself . '
The girl saw them from afar , and a great fear fell on her , XXXXX she knew her mother 's skill in magic of all kinds .
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