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SIX FRIENDS
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all except the gleam of the girl's white dress before him, and the water pitcher became so heavy that his shoulder well-nigh broke with the weight of it, but he struggled on, determined not to lose sight of his strange and beautiful guide.

Quite unexpectedly they came at length to a little log hut with a candle shining in the window. As they approached it, the door was opened by an old man, white-haired, shriveled and bent, with an old, wrinkled woman beside him.

"Come in, daughter," said the aged man, motioning to the girl. "Have you brought the Prince's son?"

"That I have, Father," she replied, and her voice was as lovely as her beautiful face. The Prince's son entered the little hut, wondering greatly, and the door was closed behind him.

Without a word of explanation, the aged couple made haste to set before him a simple, hearty supper, the girl having disappeared meanwhile into an inner room.