"Probably it is," replied the King; "but it is on another man. You must confine yourself to kissing my wooden head." "I'm sorry," sighed the Queen, "for I like to kiss the real head best." "And so you shall," said the King's head; "I don't approve your kissing that wooden head at all." The poor lady looked from one to the other in perplexity. Finally a happy thought occurred to her. "Why don't you trade heads?" she asked. "Just the thing!" cried the King; and, the wood-chopper consenting, the exchange was made, and the Monarch of Mo found himself in possession of his own head again, whereat he was so greatly pleased that he laughed long and merrily. The wood-chopper, however, did not even smile. He couldn't because of the wooden face. The head he had made for the King he now was compelled to wear himself. "Bring hither the princesses," commanded the King. "This good man shall choose his bride at once, for he has restored to me my own head." But when the princesses arrived and saw that the wood-chopper had a wooden head, they each and all refused to marry him, and begged so hard to escape that the King was in a quandary. "I promised him one of my daughters," he argued, "and a King never breaks his word." "But he hadn't a wooden head then," explained one of the girls. The King realized the truth of this. Indeed, when he came to look carefully at the wooden head, he did not blame his daughters for not wishing to marry it. Should he force one of them to consent, it was not unlikely she would call her husband a blockhead--a term almost certain to cause trouble in any family. After giving the matter deep thought, the King resolved to go to the Purple Dragon and oblige it to give up the wood-chopper's head. So all the fighting men in the kingdom were got together, and, having picked ripe swords off the sword-trees, they marched in a great body to the Dragon's castle. Now the Purple Dragon realized that if it attempted to fight all this army, it would perhaps be cut to pieces; so it retired within its castle and refused to come out. The wood-chopper was a brave man. "I'll go in and fight the Dragon alone," he said; and in he went. By this time the Dragon was both frightened and angry, and the moment it saw the man it rushed forward and made a snap at his head. The wooden head came off at once, and the Dragon's long, sharp teeth got stuck in the wood and would not come out again; so the monster was unable to do anything but flop its tail and groan. The wood-chopper now ran to the cupboard, took out his head and placed it upon his shoulders where it belonged. Then he proudly walked out of the castle and was greeted with loud shouts by the army, which carried him back in triumph to the King's palace. And, now that he wore his own head again, one of the prettiest of the young princesses willingly agreed to marry him; so the wedding ceremony was performed amidst great rejoicing. _The Third Surprise_