lightning and
struck the paladin three times in the face. He immediately fled, but
the wand was after him, hitting him all the time, and crying out:

"Mere promises are children's play,
So do not throw your breath away,
But think of something true to say,
You rogue, when next you come our way."

Defeated and filled with consternation, the paladin returned to the
king and told him about the wand, and how badly he had been beaten.
When the king heard that the fool possessed a wand that struck of
itself, he wanted it so much that for a time he forgot all about the
tablecloth, and sent some of his soldiers with orders to bring him
back the wand.

When they entered the cottage, the fool, as usual, was lying on the
stove.

"Deliver up the wand to us instantly," said they; "the king is willing
to pay any price you ask, but if you refuse he will take it from you
by force."

Instead of replying the fool unwound the waistband, saying to it as he
did so:

"O marvellous, wonderful, lake-forming Band,
For my safety, and not for my fun,
Bear me in a boat on thy waves far from land,
So that I from my foes need not run."

There was a shimmering in the air, while at the same moment everything
around them disappeared, and a beautiful lake, long, wide, and deep,
was seen, surrounded by green fields. Fish with golden scales and eyes
of pearls played in the clear water. In the centre, in a small silver
skiff, rowed a man, whom the soldiers recognised as the fool.

They remained some time looking at this miracle, and then ran off to
tell the king. Now when the king heard thereof he was so anxious to
possess the lake, or rather the waistband that produced the lake, that
he sent a whole battalion of soldiers to take the fool prisoner.

This time they managed to get hold of him while he was asleep, but as
they were about to tie his hands he turned his hat round and said:

"O Magic Helmet, never thou
Dost want for powder nor shot,
Allay my fears and fire now
Just where I point. Fail not."

Instantly a hundred bullets whistled through the air, amid clouds of
smoke and loud reports. Many of the soldiers fell dead, others took
refuge in the wood, whence they returned to the king to give an
account of what had taken place.

Whereupon the king flew into a violent rage, furious that he had as
yet failed to take the fool. But his wish to possess the feast-giving
tablecloth, the magic wand, the lake-fo