And when the princess saw him she also thought that he was a great hero. But the Wise Bird was of a different mind from her, for when the princess came to talk to him about marrying the king he shook his head. “No, no,” said he, “there is something wrong here, and the king has baked his cake in somebody else’s oven. He never saddled and bridled the Wild Black Horse by himself. Listen, you must say to him that you will marry nobody but the man who wears such and such a golden armlet with this and that written on it.” So the princess told the king what the Wise Bird had bidden her to say, and the king went straightway to the faithful servant. “You must let me have your armlet,” said he. “Alas, master,” said the faithful servant, “that is a woful thing for me, for the one and only way to take the armlet off of my wrist is to cut my hand from off my body.” “So!” says the king, “that is a great pity, but the princess will not have me without the armlet.” “Then you shall have it,” says the faithful servant; but the king had to cut the hand off, for the faithful servant could not do it himself. [Illustration: The Faithful Servant gives y^e young Kind y^e golden bracelet from his wrist as the other desires. ¶] But, bless your heart! the armlet was ever so much too large for the king to wear! Nevertheless he tied it to his wrist with a bit of ribbon, and off he marched to the princess’s castle. “Here is the armlet of gold,” said he, “and now will you marry me!” But the Wise Bird sat on the princess’s chair. “Hut! tut!” says he, “it does not fit the man.” Yes, that was so; everybody who was there could see it easily enough; and as for marrying him, the princess would marry nobody but the man who could wear the armlet. What a hubbub there was then! Every one who was there was sure that the armlet would fit him if it fitted nobody else. But no; it was far too large for the best of them. The faithful servant was very sad, and stood back of the rest, over by the wall, with his arm tied up in a napkin. “You shall try it too,” says the princess; but the faithful servant only shook his head, for he could not try it on as the rest had done, because he had no hand. But the Wise Bird was there and knew what he was about; “See now,” says he, “maybe the Water of Life will cure one thing as well as another.” Yes, that was true, and one was sent to fetch the cup. They sprinkled it on the faithful servant’s arm, and it was not twice they had to do it, for there was another hand as good and better than the old. Then they gave him the armlet; he slipped it over his hand, and it fitted him like his own skin. “This is the man for me,” says the princess, “and I will have none other;” for she could see with half an eye that he was the hero who had been doing all the wonderful things that had happened, because he said nothing about himself. As for the king—why, all that was left for him to do was to pack off home again; and I, for one, am glad of it.