THE SALT OF LIFE

alone that has saved me so long from ill. But danger
hangs close over me; the queen only waits for the chance
to bewitch me; and some day she will overpower me,
for she is stronger than J. With the prince’s aid I can
overcome her and make myself for ever safe, and it is this
that has brought me here to-day. My magic is powertful
enough to change the prince back into his true shape
again, and I will do so if he will aid me in what follows,
and this is it: I will conjure the queen, and by-and-by a
great eagle will come flying, and its plumage will be as
black as night. Then I myself will become an eagle, with
black-and-white plumage, and we two will fight in the air.
After a while we will both fall to the ground, and then
the prince must cut off the head of the black eagle with a
knife I shall give him. Will you do this,” said she, turn-
ing to the raven, “if I transform you to your true
shape ?”

The raven bowed his head and said “Croak!” And
the sister of the queen knew that he meant yes.

Therewith she drew a great, long, keen knife from her
bosom, and thrust it into the ground. “Tt is with this
knife of magic,” said she, “ that you must cut off the black
eagle’s head.” ‘Then the witch-princess gathered up some
sand in her hand, and flung it into the raven’s face.
“Resume,” cried she, “your own shape!” And in an
instant the prince was himself again. The next thing the
sister of the queen did was to draw a circle upon the
ground around the prince, the old man, and herself. On
the circle she marked strange figures here and there.
Then, all three standing close together, she began her
conjurations, uttering strange words—now under her
breath, and now clear and loud.

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