Little Prince Ivan threw down the handkerchief that had been sewn by the two old women who had eaten the apples of youth.  It turned into a deep, broad lake, so that the witch baby had to swim—­and swimming is slower than running.  It took her a long time to get across, and all that time Prince Ivan was galloping on, never stopping for a moment.

The witch baby crossed the lake and came thundering after him.  Close behind she was, and would have caught him; but the giant Tree-rooter saw the little Prince galloping on the big black horse, and the witch baby tearing after him.  He pulled up the great oaks in armfuls, and threw them down just in front of the witch baby.  He made a huge pile of the big trees, and the witch baby had to stop and gnaw her way through them with her iron teeth.

It took her a long time to gnaw through the trees, and the black horse galloped and galloped ahead.  But presently Prince Ivan heard a noise behind him.  He looked back, and there was the witch baby, thirty feet high, racing after him, clanging with her teeth.  Close behind she was, and the little Prince sat firm on the big black horse, and galloped and galloped.  But she would have caught him if the giant Mountain-tosser had not seen the little Prince on the big black horse, and the great witch baby running after him.  The giant tore up the biggest mountain in the world and flung it down in front of her, and another on the top of that.  She had to bite her way through them, while the little Prince galloped and galloped.

At last little Prince Ivan saw the cloud castle of the little sister of the Sun, hanging over the end of the world and gleaming in the sky as if it were made of roses.  He shouted with hope, and the black horse shook his head proudly and galloped on.  The witch baby thundered after him.  Nearer she came and nearer.

“Ah, little one,” screams the witch baby, “you shan’t get away this time!”

The Sun’s little sister was looking from a window of the castle in the sky, and she saw the witch baby stretching out to grab little Prince Ivan.  She flung the window open, and just in time the big black horse leapt up, and through the window and into the courtyard, with little Prince Ivan safe on its back.

How the witch baby gnashed her iron teeth!

“Give him up!” she screams.

“I will not,” says the Sun’s little sister.

“See you here,” says the witch baby, and she makes herself smaller and smaller and smaller, till she was just like a real little girl.  “Let us be weighed in the great scales, and if I am heavier than Prince Ivan, I can take him; and if he is heavier than I am, I’ll say no more about it.”

The Sun’s little sister laughed at the witch baby and teased her, and she hung the great scales out of the cloud castle so that they swung above the end of the world.

Little Prince Ivan got into one scale, and down it went.