" very well , " said she , " you shall have what you want if you can clean my stables to - morrow between the rise and the set of the sun . but i tell you plainly , if you fail in the doing , you shall be torn to pieces body and bones . " but the prince was not to be scared away with empty words . so the next morning the old witch came and took him to the stables where he was to do his task . there stood more than a hundred cattle , and the stable had not been cleaned for at least ten long years . " there is your work , " said the old witch , and then she left him . well , the king 's son set to work with fork and broom and might and main , but - prut!-he might as well have tried to bale out the great ocean with a bucket . at noontide who should come to the stable but the pretty swan maiden herself . " when one is tired , one should rest for a while , " said she ; " come and lay your head in my lap . "
clean her stables .
what did the witch ask the prince to do ?
what did the witch ask the prince to do ?