the strange and curious things it contained. It seemed as if at some one instant all life had been arrested. In one hall he saw a prince who had been turned into stone while he was brandishing his sword. The sword was still uplifted. In another room there was a stone knight who was taken in the act of flight. He had stumbled on the threshold but he had not yet fallen. A serving man sat under the chimney eating his supper. With one hand he was reaching a piece of roast meat to his mouth. Days, months, perhaps years had gone by, but the meat had not yet touched his lips. There were many others, all of them still in whatever position they happened to be when the magician had cried: “Be ye turned into stone!”
In the courtyard and the stables the prince found many fine horses overtaken by the same fate.
Outside the castle everything was equally dead and silent. There were trees but they had no leaves, there was a river but it didn’t flow, and no fish could live in its waters. There wasn’t a singing bird anywhere, and there wasn’t even one tiny flower.
In the morning, at noon, and at supper-time the prince and his companions found a rich feast prepared for them. Unseen hands served them food and poured them wine.
Then after supper, as on the preceding night, the doors burst open and the magician led in the princess, whom he handed over to the prince to guard for the second night.
Of course the prince and his men determined to fight off drowsiness this time with all their strength. But in spite of this determination again they fell asleep. At dawn the prince awoke and saw that the princess was gone.
He jumped up and shook Keen by the shoulder.
“Wake up, Keen, wake up! Where is the princess?”
Keen rubbed his eyes, took one look out of the window, and said:
“There, I see her. Two hundred miles from here is a mountain, in the mountain is a rock, in the rock a precious stone. That stone is the princess. If Longshanks will carry me over there we’ll get her.”
Longshanks put Keen on his shoulder, stretched himself out until he was able to go twenty miles at a stride, and off he went. Keen fixed his glowing eyes on the mountain and the mountain crumbled. Then the rock that was inside the mountain broke into a thousand pieces and there was the precious stone glittering among the pieces.
They picked it up and carried it back to the prince. As soon as he dropped it on the floor the princess reappeared.
When the magician came in and found her there, his eyes sparkled with anger, and bang! the second of his iron bands cracked and burst asunder. Rumbling and growling he led the princess away.
That day passed as the day before. After supper the magician brought back the princess and, looking fiercely at the prince, he sneered and said: “Now we’ll see who wins, you or I.”
This night the prince and his men tried harder than ever to stay awake. They didn’t even allow themselves to sit down but kept walking. All in vain. One after another they fell asleep on their feet and again the princess escaped.
In the morning the prince, as usual, was the first to awake. When he saw the princess was gone, he aroused Keen.
“Wake up, Keen!” he cried. “Look out and tell me where the princess is.”
This time Keen had to look long before he saw her.
“Master, she is far away. Three hundred miles from here there is a black sea. At the bottom of that sea is a shell. In that shell is a golden ring. That ring is the princess. But don’t be worried, master, we’ll get her. This time let Longshanks take Girth as well as me, for we may need him.”
So Longshanks put Keen on one shoulder and Girth on the other. Then he stretched himself out until he was able to cover thirty miles at a stride. When they reached the black sea Keen showed Longshanks where to reach down in the water for the shell. Longshanks reached down as far as he could but not far enough to touch bottom.
“Wait, comrades, wait a bit,” said Girth. “Now it’s my turn to help.”
With that he puffed himself out and out as far as he could. Then he lay down on the beach and began drinking up the sea. He drank it in such great gulps that soon Longshanks was able to reach bottom and to get the shell. Longshanks took out the ring and then, putting his comrades on his shoulders, started back for the castle. He was not able to go fast, for Girth, with half the sea in his stomach, was very heavy. At last in desperation Longshanks turned Girth upside down and shook him and instantly the great plain upon which he emptied him turned into a huge lake. It was all poor Girth could do to scramble out of the water and back to Longshanks’ shoulder.
Meanwhile at the castle the prince was awaiting his men in great anxiety. Morning was breaking and still they did not come. As the first rays of the sun shot over the mountain tops the doors slammed open and the magician stood on the threshold. He glanced around and when he saw that the princess was not there he gave a mocking laugh and entered.
But at that very instant there was the crash of a breaking window, a golden ring struck the floor, and lo! the princess! Keen had seen in time the danger that was threatening the prince and Longshanks had hurled the ring through the window.
The magician bellowed with rage until the castle shook and then, bang! the third iron band burst asunder and from what had once been the magician a black crow arose and flew out of the broken window and was never seen again.
Instantly the beautiful princess blushed like a rose and was able to speak and to thank the prince for delivering her.
Everything in the castle came to life. The prince with the uplifted sword finished his stroke and put the sword into its scabbard. The knight who was stumbling fell and jumped up holding his nose to see whether he still had it. The serving man under the chimney put the meat into his mouth and kept on eating. And so every one finished what he had been doing at the moment of enchantment. The horses, too, came to life and stamped and neighed.
Around the castle the trees burst into leaf. Flowers covered the meadows. High in the heavens the lark sang, and in the flowing river there were shoals of tiny fish. Everything was alive again, everything happy.
The knights who had been restored to life gathered in the hall to thank the prince for their deliverance. But the prince said to them:
“You have nothing to thank me for. If it had not been for these, my three trusty servants, Longshanks, Girth, and Keen, I should have met the same fate as you.”
The prince set out at once on his journey home with his bride and his three serving men. When he reached home the old king, who had given him up for lost, wept for joy at his unexpected return.
All the knights whom the prince had rescued were invited to the wedding which took place at once and lasted for three weeks.
When it was over, Longshanks, Girth, and Keen presented themselves to the young king and told him that they were again going out into the world to look for work. The young king urged them to stay.
“I will give you everything you need as long as you live,” he promised them, “and you won’t have to exert yourselves at all.”
But such an idle life was not to their liking. So they took their leave and started out again and to this day they are still knocking around somewhere.
THE THREE GOLDEN HAIRS
THERE
