For some days they got on very well. Sootface marched first, capering and dancing with delight at having escaped from the cruel old witch; the gardener’s son followed, his cherry-stick in his hand, and giving his arm to the Princess when she was tired. But, as they were on foot, their progress was very slow, and, having very little money between them, they began to wonder how they should get enough food for each day. The gardener’s son and the Princess did not like begging, so the cat ran forward to every village as they approached it, and, with many a sad tale and wonderful antic, asked alms from door to door. Sometimes he said that his father had died and required decent burial; sometimes that he was the eldest of fourteen and was charged with the education of his brothers and sisters, and he always managed to bring back a little money from the charitably disposed persons whom he met. But, at last, they came to a part of the world where everybody was mean and misers were found in abundance; in one village twenty of them lived in a row in the principal street. They would give Sootface nothing and even leaned out of their windows to shake their fists at him as he passed, and he returned empty-handed to his friends. Finding that things had come to such a pass, they opened the book of magic and Sootface sat in front of it repeating his verse. When he had done this the letters jumped about as before, and soon there was quite a clear verse upon the page. This is what it said: “When the moon is young and new Take the cherry-stick with you, Throw it up into the sky, Where it falls there let it lie; Dig beneath it in the grass, Who knows what may come to pass?” It happened that that night was the first night of the new moon, so they took the cherry-stick into a field and the gardener’s son tossed it high into the air. It fell a little way off, and when they had run to the place where it lay, Sootface began digging with his paws underneath it. Soon he came upon something hard, and, when they had taken it out of the hole, they found a leather bag stuffed full of gold. After this their troubles vanished, and they began to live in a very grand manner; at each town through which they passed they hired splendid lodgings and gave largely to beggars, and instead of travelling afoot, they bought two fine horses; Sootface sat on the crupper behind the gardener’s son, bowing affably to the people who passed. They bought some magnificent new clothes—those they wore being nearly worn out—and thus they proceeded till the next new moon, when they again tossed up the cherry-stick and found another bag of money. In time they drew near their journey’s end and approached the capital town in which the Princess’s sister lived, and they halted and sent the cat before them with a letter to the palace.