The undaunted princess had her wits about her and navigated the narrow, tangled cobbles. Constellations of creaking signs swung overhead painted with bears, crabs, lions coat of arms, till finally a war smith's soot stained workshop. The unknown traveler asked the forger if he could give her employment. The farrier stood silent so long that she began to lose heart, but at length the ironmonger said he needed an apprentice for his livery. The new assistant set to work at once earning her keep by shoeing horses and fixing carts. This went on day after day, week after week, and month after month, while in private she constructed a double-edged broadsword gilded with thin leaves of fine gold which looked so much like the mystical sword that one could hardly be told from another. In the same manner, Ababuo diligently fashioned a master key that could unfasten any lock.