The Prince was in despair, but Jack said nothing till his master was in
bed. Then he put on the old cap he had got from the giant, and lo! in a
minute he knew all that he wanted to know. So, in the dead of the night,
when the beautiful lady called on one of her familiar spirits to carry
her to Lucifer himself, Jack was beforehand with her, and putting on his
coat of darkness and his slippers of swiftness, was there as soon as she
was. And when she gave the handkerchief to the Devil, bidding him keep
it safe, and he put it away on a high shelf, Jack just up and nipped it
away in a trice!
So the next morning, when the beauteous enchanted lady looked to see the
Prince crestfallen, he just made a fine bow and presented her with the
handkerchief.
At first she was terribly disappointed, but, as the day drew on, she
ordered another and still more splendid repast to be got ready. And this
time, when the repast was over, she kissed the Prince full on the lips
and said:
"I have a task for you, my lover. Show me to-morrow morning the last
lips I kiss to-night or you lose your head."
Then the Prince, who by this time was head over ears in love, said
tenderly, "If you will kiss none but mine, I will." Now the beauteous
lady, for all she was possessed by seven devils, could not but see that
the Prince was a very handsome young man; so she blushed a little, and
said:
"That is neither here nor there: you must show me them, or death is your
portion."
So the Prince went to his bed, sorrowful as before; but Jack put on the
cap of knowledge and knew in a moment all he wanted to know.
Thus when, in the dead of the night, the beauteous lady called on her
familiar spirit to take her to Lucifer himself, Jack in his coat of
darkness and his shoes of swiftness was there before her.
"Thou hast betrayed me once," said the beauteous lady to Lucifer,
frowning, "by letting go my handkerchief. Now will I give thee something
none can steal, and so best the Prince, King's son though he be."
With that she kissed the loathly demon full on the lips, and left him.
Whereupon Jack with one blow of the rusty sword of strength cut off
Lucifer's head, and, hiding it under his coat of darkness, brought it
back to his master.
Thus next morning when the beauteous lady, with malice in her beautiful
eyes, asked the Prince to show her the lips she had last kissed, he
pulled out the demon's head by the horns. On that the seven devils,
which possessed the poor lady, gave seven dreadful shrieks and left her.
Thus the enchantment being broken, she appeared in all her perfect
beauty and goodness.
So she and the Prince were married the very next morning. After which
they journeyed back to the court of King Arthur, where Jack the
Giant-Killer, for his many exploits, was made one of the Knights of the
Round Table.
V
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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