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do not be afraid of them, but go into the castle and pass on and on till you come to a room, where the golden bird sits in a wooden cage; close by it stands a beautiful golden cage for pomp and show; but do not take the bird out of the shabby cage and put it into the handsome one, otherwise you will repent it," So saying, the fox stretched out his tail again, and the young man sat down upon it, and away they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled in the wind.

Before the castle gate all appeared as the fox had said: so the son went in and found the room where the golden bird hung in a wooden cage, and below stood the golden cage; and the three golden apples were lying about in the room. Then thought he to himself, "It would be very ridiculous to bring away such a fine bird in this shabby cage ;" so he opened the door and took hold of the bird and put it into the golden cage; but the bird set up such a frightful scream that all the soldiers awoke, and they took him prisoner, and carried him before the king. The next morning the court sat in judgment upon him; and when all the evidence was heard, the young man was sentenced to die, unless, on one condition, that he should bring the king the golden horse which ran as swiftly as the wind; and if he did this, the golden bird would be given him for his own.

So he set out once more on his journey, sighing, and in great distress, when on a sudden his good friend the fox met him again, and said, "You see now what has happened to you for not listening to my advice. I will still, however, tell you how to find the golden horse, if you will do as I bid you. You must go straight on till you come to the castle where the horse stands in his stall: the grooms will be lying before the stall

fast asleep and snoring: take away the golden horse quietly, but be sure to put the old saddle of leather and wood upon him, and not the golden one that is hanging by it." Then the son sat down on the fox's tail, and away they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled in the wind.

All went right, and the grooms lay snoring, holding the golden saddles in their hands. But when the son looked at the golden horse, he thought it would be a great pity to put the shabby saddle upon him. "I will give him the good one," he said, "as he deserves." As he was going to take a golden saddle from a groom, he awoke and cried out so loud, that all the others ran up and took him prisoner; and in the morning he was again brought before the court, and was sentenced to die, unless he should bring thither the beautiful princess, and then he was to have the bird and the horse given him for his own.

With a sorrowful heart he went his way again, but the old fox soon made his appearance, and said, " Why did you not listen to me? If you had, you would now have possessed both the bird and the horse; yet I will give you once more my advice. Go straight on, ard in the evening you will arrive at a castle. At twelve o'clock at night the beautiful princess goes to take a bath; go up to her as she passes, and salute her, and then she will come away with you; but take care you do not suffer her to go and bid farewell to her father and mother." Then the fox stretched out his tail, and so away they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled again.

When they came to the castle, all was as the fox had said; and at night the young man met and gave the princess a

kiss, and she agreed to go with him, but begged with many tears that he would first let her bid farewell to her father and mother. He refused for awhile, but she wept so much, and fell at his feet, till at last he consented; but the moment she came to her father, he and every one else awoke, and the young man was taken prisoner again.

Then he was brought before the king, and the king said, "You shall only have my daughter on one condition, that in eight days you remove the hill that blocks up the view from my window." Now this hill was so very big that the whole world could not take it away: and when he had worked for seven days, and had done almost nothing, he was very downhearted; but at the evening of the seventh day the fox came and said, "Lie down and go to sleep; I will work for you." And in the morning when he awoke the hill was gone; so he went joyfully to the king, and told him that now, since it was removed, he must give him the princess.

Then the king was obliged to keep his word, and away went the young man and the princess; and the fox came and said to him, "You must have all three-the princess, the horse, and the bird."-"True," said the young man, "but how can we get over that difficulty?”

"If you will only listen," said the fox, "it can soon be done. When you come to the king who wants the beautiful princess, as soon as he sees you he will be exceedingly glad, and will bring out the horse and give it you. Mount the princess quickly on the horse behind you-clap your spurs to his side, and gallop off like lightning."

When all this was done, and the princess was safe on horseback, then the fox said, "When you come to the castle where

the bird is, I will stay with the princess at the door, and you will ride in and speak; and when they see that you have the right horse, they will bring out the bird; but you must sit still, and when you get it into your hand, ride off."

All turned out right as the fox said; they carried off the bird, the princess mounted on horseback again, and they rode on till they came to a great wood. Then the fox came, and said, "Pray shoot me, and cut off my head and my feet." But the young man would not by any means do it: so the fox said, “I will at any rate give you some good advice: beware of two things; ransom no one from the gallows, and sit down by the side of no river."-" Well," thought the young man, 'if this is all, there will be no great difficulty in that.”

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So he rode on with the princess, till he came to the village where he had parted from his two brothers. Hearing a great noise and uproar, he asked what was the matter, and the people said, "that two men were going to be hanged." As he came nearer, he saw the two men were his own brothers, who had been guilty of all sorts of crimes, and had spent every thing; so he said, "Is it not possible to save them?" And the people said "No," unless he would give up all his money to save villains, and so set them free. Then, without stopping to think about it, he paid what was demanded, and his brothers were set at liberty, and continued the journey with him.

And as they came to the wood where the fox first met them, it was so cool and pleasant that the two brothers said, "Let us sit down here by the side of this river, and rest a while, to eat and drink." And so he forgot what the fox said, and sat down on the side of the river; and while he suspected nothing bad, they came behind, and threw him into the water, and

took the princess, the horse, and the bird, and went home to the king and said, “All this we have won, and now bring to thee." Then there was great joy; but the horse would not eat, the bird would not sing, and the princess wept.

The youngest son fell to the bottom of the river, which luckily was nearly dry; and although none of his bones were broken, he could find no way to get out. Then the old fox came once more, and scolded him for not following his advice; otherwise this would not have happened to him: "Yet," said he, "I cannot leave you here, but must help you out, so lay hold of my tail and hold fast." Then he pulled him out of the river, and said to him, as he got upon the bank, "Your brothers have set watch to kill you, if they find you in the king's territories." So he dressed himself as a poor man, and came secretly to the king's court, and was scarcely within the doors when the horse began to eat, and the bird to sing, and the princess left off weeping. The king was so astonished, that he asked the reason of this, and so the princess said, I think my right husband is come home, and that makes me so joyful. Then she told him every thing, although the other brothers had threatened her with death if she spoke a word. The king then commanded all the people that were in the castle to be brought together that the princess might see them, and she immediately knew her husband, although in such bad clothes, and ran and embraced him. The brothers were then seized and punished, and he had the princess given to him again; and after the king's death he was heir to his kingdom. A long while after, he went to walk one day in the wood, and the old fox met him and besought him most piteously to kill him, and cut off his head and feet. And at last he did so,

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