“Well, but at least,” said the innkeeper, “you will have heard how the Princesses were famed for their hair; so beautiful it was, so golden, and so long! And now, at every full moon, one of them goes bald in a night; and bald her head stays as a stone, for never an inch of hair grows on it again; and with her hair all her beauty goes pale, so that she is but the shadow of her former self—a thin-blooded thing, as if a vampire had come and sucked out half her life. Yes; ten months this has happened, and ten of the Princesses have lost their looks and their hair as well; and now only the Princess Royal and the youngest of all remain untouched; and doubtless one of them is to lose her crop to-night.” “But how does it happen?” cried Lubin, “Is no one put to keep watch, to guard them from the thing being done?” “Ah! you talk, you talk!” said the innkeeper. “How? The King has offered half his kingdom to anyone who can tell him how the mischief is done; and the other half to the man who will put an end to it. To put it shortly, if you believe yourself a clever enough man, you may have the King for your father-in-law, with the pick of his daughters for your bride, and be his heir and lord of all when he dies!” “For such a reward,” said Lubin, “has no man made the attempt?” “Aye, one a month; every time there has been some man fool enough to think himself so clever; and he has been turned out of the palace next day with his ears cropped.” “I will risk having my ears cropped,” said Lubin; for his heart was sorry for the young Princesses, and the vanishing of their beauty. So he went up and knocked at the gates of the palace. They went and told the King that a new man had come willing and wanting to have his ears cropped on the morrow. “Well, well,” said the King, “let the poor fool in!” for indeed he had given up all hope. From the King Lubin heard the whole story over again. The old man sighed so, it took him whole hours to tell it. “I would be glad to be your son,” said Lubin, when the King had ended; “but I would like better to make you rid of your sorrow.” “That is kind of you,” said the King. “Perhaps I will only crop one of your ears to-morrow.” “When may one see the Princesses?” asked Lubin. “They will be down to supper, presently,” answered the King; “then you shall see them, what there is left of them.” Though it was reckoned that the next day Lubin would have to be drummed out of the palace with his ears cropped short, on this day he was to be treated like an honoured guest. When they went in to supper the King made him sit upon his right hand.