The boy sat on the horse that he had just tamed and rode it back to the king's palace. Dapplegrim ran by his side.
Soon the boy reached the king’s palace with the two horses. “Can you tell me which is the horse that I have got and which is the one that I had before?” The boy asked the king.
The king carefully looked over the horses and he was stunned because he was unable to make out any difference between the two horses.
Naturally, the king still did not want the boy to marry his daughter. “There is one more condition that you have to satisfy. Then you can marry the princess.
The boy sighed.
“The princess will hide herself twice and if you find her both the times, then you will be given a chance to hide yourself twice. If the princess is unable to find you both the times, then I shall let you marry my daughter.”
Now, the princess knew a bit of magic and she could change herself into anything and the boy knew this. But he knew that he had no choice but to fulfill this condition too.
He told Dapplegrim of the King’s latest condition and the horse was fairly certain that he could help the boy in every way possible.
The next day, the princess changed herself into a duck and swam in the lake.
The boy looked all around the kingdom for the princess but could not find her.
Unhappily, the boy went to Dapplegrim for help.
The horse nodded at the boy. “Take your gun and go to the river and aim the gun at the duck there. You will find the princess immediately.”
Naturally, when the boy aimed at the duck, the princess changed into her own form and pleaded with the boy not to shoot her.
Thus the boy found the princess for the first time.
Adapted from Norwegian Folktales
No comments:
Post a Comment