"What does this mean?" said the king, astonished.
The princess answered:
"I cannot tell, except that I was sad and now I am joyful; it is to me
as if my rightful bridegroom had returned."
Then she told him all that happened, although the two brothers had
threatened to put her to death if she betrayed any of their secrets. The
king then ordered every person who was in the castle to be brought
before him, and with the rest came the young man like a beggar in his
wretched garments; but the princess knew him and greeted him lovingly,
falling on his neck and kissing him. The wicked brothers were seized and
put to death, and the youngest brother was married to the princess and
succeeded to the inheritance of his father.
But what became of the poor fox? Long afterward the king's son was going
through the wood and the fox met him and said:
"Now, you have everything that you can wish for, but my misfortunes
never come to an end, and it lies in your power to free me from them."
And once more he prayed the king's son earnestly to slay him and cut off
his head and feet. So at last he consented, and no sooner was it done
than the fox was changed into a man, and was no other than the brother
of the beautiful princess; and thus he was set free from a spell that
had bound him for a long, long time.
And now, indeed, there lacked nothing to their happiness as long as they
lived.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: This is a fairy tale, pure and simple, but we must have a
little nonsense now and then, and it does us no harm, but on the
contrary much good.
Pages:
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197