She ran right into the thickest part of the wood, because she did not know what her heart was made of, and she was afraid of the dragon, and there in a dell she came on Elfin and his five and seventy fine pigs. He was playing his flute, and around him the pigs were dancing cheerfully on their hind legs. "Oh, dear," said the Princess, "do take care of me. I am so frightened." "I will," said Elfin, putting his arms around her. "Now you are quite safe. What were you frightened of?" "The dragon," she said. "So it's gotten out of the silver bottle," said Elfin. "I hope it's eaten the Prince." "No," said Sabrinetta. "But why?" He told her of the mean trick that the Prince had played on him. "And he promised me half his kingdom and the hand of his cousin the Princess," said Elfin. "Oh, dear, what a shame!" said Sabrinetta, trying to get out of his arms. "How dare he?" "What's the matter?" he asked, holding her tighter. "It _was_ a shame, or at least _I_ thought so. But now he may keep his kingdom, half and whole, if I may keep what I have." "What's that?" asked the Princess. "Why, you--my pretty, my dear," said Elfin, "and as for the Princess, his cousin--forgive me, dearest heart, but when I asked for her I hadn't seen the real Princess, the _only_ Princess, _my_ Princess." "Do you mean me?" said Sabrinetta. "Who else?" he asked. "Yes, but five minutes ago you hadn't seen me!" "Five minutes ago I was a pig keeper--now I've held you in my arms I'm a Prince, though I should have to keep pigs to the end of my days." "But you haven't asked _me_," said the Princess. "You asked me to take care of you," said Elfin, "and I will--all my life long." So that was settled, and they began to talk of really important things, such as the dragon and the Prince, and all the time Elfin did not know that this was the Princess, but he knew that she had a heart of gold, and he told her so, many times. "The mistake," said Elfin, "was in not having a dragonproof bottle. I see that now." "Oh, is that all?" said the Princess. "I can easily get you one of those--because everything in my tower is dragonproof. We ought to do something to settle the dragon and save the little children." So she started off to get the bottle, but she would not let Elfin come with her. "If what you say is true," she said, "if you are sure that I have a heart of gold, the dragon won't hurt me, and somebody must stay with the pigs." Elfin was quite sure, so he let her go. She found the door of her tower open. The dragon had waited patiently for the Prince, and the moment he opened the door and came out--though he was only out for an instant to post a letter to his Prime Minister saying where he was and asking them to send the fire brigade to deal with the fiery dragon--the dragon ate him. Then the dragon went back to the wood, because it was getting near his time to grow small for the night.