All I could do was to crawl in among these bushes, and here I have lain, thankful to escape from my persecutors, and most thankful to the happy thought, Princess, which brought you this way.' "The Princess, her eyes still full of tears, helped him to the palace, where she bound up his arm and tended him carefully, for, young as she was, she had learnt many useful acts of this kind in her father's castle.

The wound was not a very serious one; the Prince was suffering more from exhaustion and fatigue.
"'If I could spend a day or two here in peace,' he said sadly, 'I should quickly recover.

But, alas! that is impossible.

I must submit to my cruel fate.

But this night I must confine my wanderings to the forests in this neighbourhood, where, perhaps, I may be able to hide from the huntsmen, who, no doubt, will be watching for me.' "He sighed heavily, and the Princess's heart grew very sad.
"'I have little more than an hour left,' he said.
"'Yes,' said the Princess, 'sleep if you can; I will not disturb you.' "And when she saw that he had fallen asleep she went into the other room, where in a corner lay the bull's skin, which the Prince had dragged behind him from the spot where it had fallen off as the sun sank.
"The Princess looked at it with a fierce expression, very different to the usual gentle look in her pretty eyes.
"'Hateful thing!' she said, giving it a kick with her little foot; 'I wonder how I could get rid of you.