Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Fairy tales
'He is working in the garden. The queer fellow went to the feast, and
he only came back last night. He has shown my children three golden
apples which he won.'
The King ordered him to be brought before him. When he appeared he
still wore his cap. But the Princess went up to him and took it off;
then all his golden hair fell over his shoulders, and it was so
beautiful that they were all amazed by it.
'Are you the Knight who came to the feast every day in a different
colour, and who caught the three golden apples?' asked the King.
'Yes,' he answered, 'and here are the apples,' bringing them out of
his pocket, and giving them to the King. 'If you want further proof,
here is the wound in my leg given me by your people when they pursued
me. But I am also the Knight who helped you to conquer the enemy.'
'If you can do such deeds you are no Gardener's boy. Tell me who is
your father?'
'My father is a powerful King, and I have plenty of gold--as much as
ever I want.'
'I see very well,' said the King, 'that we owe you many thanks. Can I
do anything to please you?'
'Yes,' he answered; 'indeed, you can. Give me your daughter to be my
wife!'
The maiden laughed, and said, 'He does not beat about the bush; but I
saw long ago that he was no Gardener's boy.'
Then she went up to him and kissed him.
His father and mother came to the wedding, and they were full of joy,
for they had long given up all hope of ever seeing their dear son
again. As they were all sitting at the wedding feast, the music
suddenly stopped, the doors flew open, and a proud King walked in at
the head of a great following. He went up to the Bridegroom, embraced
him, and said, 'I am Iron Hans, who was bewitched and changed into a
Wild Man; but you have broken the spell and set me free. All the
treasure that I have is now your own.'
Printed in Great Britain by
T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty
at the University Press, Edinburgh
Transcriber's Note
Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. Capitalisation and hyphen
usage has been made consistent within individual stories.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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