The day had come to say goodbye.  It had taken longer than Sara, the vagrant Princess, would have wished once she had resolved to send her friend, the once bewitched, but now restored, Countess   Martha back home.  They had worked hard in the fields for three weeks, the Princess still naked, of course,  and Martha dressed in a rough peasant's smock and working boots, before sufficient gold pieces had been earned to buy  Martha a fine horse and provisions for her homeward journey.  Her friend had been given quarters in the farmhouse, but the Princess, denied shelter by the terms of her contract with the Good Fairy,  had slept in the field next to where she had been working.

Once more the two embraced tenderly.  Martha mounted her steed and rode off, not looking around until she knew herself to be out of sight.  She could not bear to let her friend see her tears, and both girls knew that it would take very little to weaken their resolve to part.  They also knew that only harm could come from Sara failing to observe faithfully the conditions of her sentence.  The Fairy could still make trouble and continue to prejudice the Prince against the devoted girl who loved him so dearly.

The humbled Princess was aware that even the three weeks they had been at least partly together might have to be paid for in the form of extra pain and hardship, and she began to doubt her ability to come through whatever it might be.  She felt more lonely than at any time since leaving the familiar comforts of the Royal Palace as she saw her beloved childhood confidante diminish into the distance.  The Fairy must be hopping mad at the way her victim had been rescued.  Yes!  She would certainly pay for this - but how?

Turning away from the spot where they had parted, the naked wanderer continued to trudge wearily southwards - her weariness accentuated by her renewed loneliness.  All the while, the sun was becoming stronger, beating down on her with an intensity unknown in the Northern  land from which she had started her journey nearly two months ago.

After walking five miles she began to feel thirsty and, having no permission to carry water with her, started to look around for a well, spring or river at which she could refresh herself.  There was a little cluster of hovels in the distance and she made towards it, the sun becoming hotter as it climbed higher.  By the time she came to the hamlet she was close to collapse, her head spinning.  To her relief, there was a well in the square next to the green.  A couple of young men were standing beside it as she approached.

With a pang of fear, she saw the lascivious way these young bucks were looking at her.  She knew how beautiful she still was, even in her present dishevelled and dusty state.  With the strength draining out of her and no hope of fighting off an attack, she feared the worst as she tottered towards them, gasping out that she was thirsty and must drink soon or perish.

"Where did the clothes go, you little tart?  Give us a taste of those ruby lips, a feel of those sweet firm tithes and a slap on that tight little arse and you can drink your fill."

"If you insist" replied the Princess.  "But I should warn you it will not be good for you in years to come.  I am protected by a powerful Fairy who watches over me and will wreak a terrible revenge on he who dares lay rude hands upon my purity."

She knew this was nonsense!  In all probability the Guardian Fairy in question had arranged this entire scene, intending  that the virgin Sara be brutally ravaged and thus rendered impure and quite unfit for marriage  to a great Prince.

One of the youths stepped back, apparently impressed both by the warning and the calm authority in the voice which uttered it.  His companion was not deterred and clasped the almost fainting girl around her waist, kissing her on her mouth.  He smelt strongly of beer and she felt sick.  Horrified, she drew back, pushing him away from her. He saw her ring.

" It's not so much fun if the girl's not willing, although with a pretty doll like you I might still take you!  Give me that ring,  if you won't give me your nice little body.   I'll have it any way."

With this he seized her small, beautiful, if  work roughened,  hand and pulled at the ring.  It did not budge by the tiniest fraction of an inch and the youth staggered back, holding his tight hand in his left and groaning.  He took the other hand away and a surprised Princess saw that the member that had attempted to remove the ring was horribly blistered and the skin and flesh were already starting to peel away, revealing the white bone underneath.

The gasps of pain turned into screams as  the fingers of the injured hand curled inwards like talons.  The member was shrivelling by the second, turning into nothing more than a fleshless claw.   It was obvious that it was damaged for ever - the boy would never be able to use it properly again.  After this, she was allowed,  by the terror-struck youths,  to draw water in peace.  Having quenched her thirst she continued her long progress to the South.

As she walked, the ground burning the soles of her feet as the sun's heat reached its zenith, she saw that the flight from the northern cold was bringing her fresh problems.  She knew she still had many miles to go before she would be in a region whose winter she could survive and it was becoming harder to make sufficient progress.  Soon it would be August and the count down to Winter would begin.  She must go faster, but the problem of water was becoming more of a worry with each day.  The land was parched and the springs drying  and becoming mere trickles.  Perhaps she would have to settle for remaining at this latitude and hope for a mild winter!  She rubbed her hands absent mindedly together.

Taking her hand away from the ring, she looked around to see if it had had any effect, but nothing out of the ordinary presented itself and she continued walking.  Those feet which had been inured to rough surfaces in her first weeks, were now being tested anew, as the fierce heat began to blister the soles.  She made towards the shelter of a small copse and rested in the cool shade of the trees.  It was imperative that she wait until the ground cooled - or was it?

She examined her soles closely.  They did not appear damaged, and the brave Princess decided to continue, even though each step was the most exquisite torment, as bad as anything she had yet suffered. Her determination was rewarded after a week of this, as she developed thicker and thicker soles.  The heat no longer hurt her.

Each day she found it harder to find water, often being reduced to begging at peoples houses. Mostly people were kind, but not all.  She was becoming used to contemptuous rejections and even to blows, as she was driven away.  Her wretchedness was increasing and even her proud spirit was close to breaking.  The fairy saw all this and felt happier than she had for some considerable time!

A flock of crows flew over two weeks after Martha's departure for home and she learnt from them that her friend was safely returned,  engaged,  at last to the good Baron.  This  caused her to feel happier for a while.  Her spirits soon started to decline again, however, until one day something decisive happened.

Passing through a largish village, six weeks after she had last seen her friend Martha, she saw a sight that made her blood boil with rage.  A large red-faced man was beating a horse with a merciless savagery that aroused all her compassion and newly acquired feeling for the animal world, whose misfortunes and travails she had shared for so long now.

Storming up to this creature, she seized his stick from out of his hand and began to beat him with it, screaming abuse at him as she did so.  A knot of townsfolk gathered to watch and applauded her frenzied assault on the cruel man, who finally ran off.  As she gradually calmed down, she noticed one of the watching citizens approaching her.  "What  will happen to me now" she thought rather nervously!