After this he derived much pleasure from his wanderings.  He was a child born to bad luck—­no denial could change that—­nevertheless a child destined to good fortune could hardly have been more contented than he.  On the thirtieth day of his journeying he met with a travelling companion in the lower countries, which he had reached some time before.  This was a stone-mason’s son, who was much older than George, but who accepted the gay young vagabond as his comrade.  The youth was returning home after his wanderings as a journeyman and, as he soon discovered that George was a clever, trustworthy boy with all his wits about him, he persuaded him to offer himself as apprentice to the stone-mason, who was an excellent master in his business.  His name was Kraft, and he gladly received his son’s companion as apprentice, George having spent his last groschen that very day, and thus the little prince was turned into a stone-mason’s apprentice.

In the castle of the Greylocks, meanwhile, there was sorrow and lamentation.  The boy who had ventured onto the lake with George, managed to save his life and returned home the following morning, and to repeated questionings he had only the one answer to make—­that he had seen the prince drown before his very eyes.  With this information the Court had to content itself; but not the duchess, for a king will give up his throne sooner than a mother the hope of seeing her child again.  She possessed indeed one means by which she could know beyond doubt whether her darling were alive or dead, namely the magic mirror which the fairy had given to the first Wendelin, and in which, ever since, the Greylocks had been able to see what they held most dear.  In this glass she had seen her husband fall from his horse and die.  Once again she took it out of the ivory casket in which it was kept; but so long as George sat imprisoned in the cave of the evil spirit, nothing was to be seen on its smooth surface.  That was ominous, yet she ceased not to hope, and thought:  “If he were dead, I should see his corpse.”  She sat the whole night staring in the mirror.  In the morning a messenger from the army of the Greylocks arrived, bringing word that the enemy was pressing upon them and that a battle would have to be fought before the fresh troops, which Moustache, the field-marshal, had asked for, could arrive.

The issue was doubtful, and the duchess would better have everything ready for her flight and that of the princes, and, in case of the worst, to carry with her the crown jewels, the royal seal and a store of gold.

The chancellor ordered all of these things to be packed in chests and warned the servants not to forget to add his dressing-gown.  Then he begged the noble widow to look into the glass and to let him know as soon as there was any reflection of the battle.