"Whither art thou bound, beautiful girl?" asked the dame.
"O grandmother," she answered, "grant me a kindness. Be my hostess and shield me from the dark night! I go to find Finist the Falcon, my dearest friend, whom my sisters pierced with cruel needles and knife-blades, and drove away bleeding."
"He is a relative of mine," said the old woman, "and his home is not very far from here. But come in and rest this night; the morning is wiser than the evening."
So the girl entered and ate and drank what the old woman gave her, and slept till daybreak, when the other woke her and said: "Finist the Falcon with colored feathers is now in the next Tzardom from here, beside the blue sea-ocean, where he stays at the Palace, for in three days he is to marry the Tzar's daughter. Go now with God and take with thee this golden saucer and this little diamond ball. Set the ball on the plate and it will roll of itself. Mayhap thou wilt wish to give them as a wedding-gift to his bride."
She thanked the old woman and started again on her way, and in the afternoon she came to the blue sea-ocean spreading wide and free before her, and
