"It is well spoken; let him not be put to death." He sent him into
banishment, however, with three men to see him over the border of
his dominions, and a goat to carry his provisions. But he also had
him shod with a pair of shoes made out of stone, forbidding him to
return until the stone shoes should be worn through.
As soon as his guards had left him, the tamer sat down by the side of
the stream, and after soaking the stone shoes with water, rubbed them
with a piece of rough stone till they were all in holes. Then he came
back to his own country, with the goat that had carried his provisions,
and made him dig roots out of the earth for him to eat. And he lived
upon the roots.
One day he saw an owl flying by, which held in its mouth a white
serpent. The tamer knew him to be a serpent-prince, and to make
the owl release him, took off his girdle and held it in his mouth,
after the manner in which the owl held the serpent, and, standing over
against the owl, he cried out, "The thing held in the mouth burns with
fire!" at the same time dropping the girdle from his mouth suddenly,
as if it scorched him.
When the owl had heard his words, she also let the serpent fall out
of her beak.
Then the tamer took up the serpent, and put it on a piece of
grass near, and covered it with his cap. He had hardly done so,
when there came up out of the water a whole train of princes of the
serpent-dæmons, riding on horses, on to the bank of the stream, where
they dispersed themselves, searching about every where for the white
serpent, which was a serpent-prince.
After they had searched long and found nothing, there came up out
of the water, riding on a white horse, a white serpent, having on a
white mantle and a white crown (4).