Part 24 (2/2)

”'This is the lad who saved me,' said the prince. 'I have asked him hither that you may give him his meed.'

”Yes, he would see to that, said the old fellow.

”'But now you must step in,' he said; 'I am sure you have need of rest.”

”Yes! they went in and sat down, and the old man threw on the fire an armful of dry fuel and one or two logs, so that the fire blazed up and shone as clear as the day in every corner, and whichever way they looked it was grander than grand. Anything like it the lad had never seen before, and such meat and drink as the grey-beard set before them he had never tasted either; and all the plates, and cups, and stoops, and tankards were all of pure silver or real gold.

”It was not easy to stop the lads. They ate and drank and were merry, and afterwards they slept till far on next morning. But the lad was scarcely awake before the grey-beard came with a morning draught in a tumbler of gold.

”So when he had huddled on his clothes and broken his fast, the old man took him round with him and showed him everything that he might choose something that he would like to have as his meed for saving his son.

There was much to see and to choose from you may fancy.

”'Now what will you have?' said the king; 'you see there is plenty of choice, you can have what you please.'

”But the lad said, he would think it over and ask the prince. Yes! the king was willing he should do that.

”'Well!' said the prince, 'you have seen many grand things.'

”'Yes, I have, as was likely,' said the lad; 'but tell me, what shall I choose of all the wealth. Do tell me, for your father says I may choose what I please.'

”'Do not take anything of all you have seen,' said the prince; 'but he has a little ring on his finger, that you must ask for.'

”Yes! he did so, and begged for the little ring which he had on his finger.

”'Why! it is the dearest thing I have,' said the king; 'but, after all, my son is just as dear and so you shall have it all the same. Do you know now what it is good for?'

”No! he knew nothing about it.

”'When you have this ring on your finger,' said the king, 'you can have anything you wish for.”

”So the lad thanked the king, and the king and the prince bade him G.o.d speed home, and told him to be sure and take care of the ring.

”So he had not gone far on his way before he thought he would prove what the ring was worth, and so he wished himself a new suit of clothes, and he had scarce wished for them before he had them on him. And now he was as grand and bright as a new-struck penny. So he thought it would be fine fun to play his father a trick.

”'He was not so very nice all the time I was at home;' and so he wished he was standing before his father's door, just as ragged as he was of old, and in a second he stood at the door.

”'Good day, father, and thank you for our last meal,' said the lad.

”But when the father saw that he had come back still more ragged and tattered than when he set out, he began to bellow and to bemoan himself.

”'There's no helping you,' he said. 'You have not so much as earned clothes to your back all the time you have been away.'

”'Don't be in such a way, father,' said the lad, 'you ought never to judge a man by his clothes; and now you shall be my spokesman, and go up to the palace and woo the king's daughter for me.' That was what the lad said.

”'Oh, fie, fie,' said the father, 'this is only gibing and jeering.'

”But the lad said it was the right down earnest, and so he took a birch cudgel and drove his father up to the gate of the palace, and there he came hobbling right up to the king with his eyes full of tears.

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