On the third night she came and said:" 'Wife and babe below the river, Now I am gone and gone for ever,' "And went down the stairs with such a reproachful look at John that his heart melted and he ran after her.

But at the outer door a flash of lightning met him, and such a storm broke over the palace and city as had never been before and never will be again.
"John heard screams, and the noise of doors banging and feet running throughout the palace; he turned back and met the Prince, his master, coming downstairs with his child in his arms.

The lightning stroke had killed his second wife where she lay.

John followed him out into the streets, where the people were running to and fro, and through the whirling sand to the ford which crossed the creek a mile above the city.

And there, as they stepped into the water, a woman rose before John, with a child in her arms, and said: 'Carry us.' The Prince, who was leading, did not see.