your troubles freely. He will answer whatever you may ask.'

With that she showed him the way, and the prince went and did just
as she had told him. After dinner they lay down to rest.

All of a sudden Lucky Luck began to speak and said: 'Tell me, what
sort of man are you, for since you came here you have not spoken a
word?'

'I am not dumb,' replied the young man, 'but I am that unhappy
prince whose faithful servant has been turned to stone, and I want
to know how to help him.'

'And you do well, for he deserves everything. Go back, and when
you get home your wife will just have had a little boy. Take three
drops of blood from the child's little finger, rub them on your
servant's wrists with a blade of grass and he will return to life.'

'I have another thing to ask,' said the prince, when he had thanked
him. 'In the forest near here is a fine stream but not a fish or other
living creature in it. Why is this?'

'Because no one has ever been drowned in the stream. But take
care, in crossing, to get as near the other side as you can before you
say so, or you may be the first victim yourself.'

'Another question, please, before I go. On my way here I lodged
one night in the house of three maidens. All were well-mannered,
hard-working, and pretty, and yet none has had a wooer. Why was
this?'