I am a well-known enchantress in this region of the world. I live in a cave that is lined with sheaths. Bring me your knife and I will find its own sheath.

One day, a messenger of the Archduke of Placenza came to me. His master had lost his reason and the doctors could not restore his mind.

He gave me his master’s knife and I found its sheath. Then I told the messenger that the archduke’s son and daughter should stop grieving. It was time to go and seek their father’s wits.

“Where will they find them?” he asked.

I answered, “In the place where he lost them.”

Mother of Sheaths in The Comb and the Collar, Olive Fairy Book. Painting “Light of the Harem” by Frederic Leighton.