ered with his beard tied up.
But he found neither the princess nor the cap, and so came to the
conclusion that she had taken it. In a great rage he began to search
high and low; he looked under all the furniture, behind the curtains,
and even beneath the carpets, but it was all in vain. Meanwhile the
princess, still invisible, had left the palace and run into the
garden, which was very large and beautiful. There she lived at her
ease, eating the delicious fruit, drinking water from the fountain,
and enjoying the helpless fury of the dwarf, who sought her
untiringly. Sometimes she would throw the fruit-stones in his face, or
take off the cap and show herself for an instant: then she would put
it on again, and laugh merrily at his rage.

One day, while playing this game, the cap caught in the branches of a
gooseberry bush. The dwarf seeing this at once ran up, seized the
princess in one hand and the cap in the other, and was about to carry
both off when the sound of a war-trumpet was heard.

The dwarf trembled with rage and muttered a thousand curses. He
breathed on the princess to send her to sleep, covered her with the
invisible cap, and seizing a double-bladed sword, rose up in the air
as high as the clouds, so that he might fall upon his assailant and
kill him at one stroke. We shall now see with whom he had to deal.

After the hurricane had upset the wedding procession and carried off
the princess, there arose a great tumult among those at court. The
king, the princess's attendants, and Prince Dobrotek sought her in
every direction, calling her by name, and making inquiries of every
one they met. At last, the king in despair declared that if Prince
Dobrotek did not bring back his daughter, he would destroy his kingdom
and have him killed. And to the other princes present he promised that
whosoever among them should bring Pietnotka back to him should have
her for his wife and receive half of the kingdom. Whereupon they all
mounted their horses without loss of time and dispersed in every
direction.

Prince Dobrotek, overpowered with grief and dismay, travelled three
days without eating, drinking, or sleeping. On the evening of the
third day he was quite worn-out with fatigue, and stopping his horse
in a field, got down to rest for a short time. Suddenly he heard
cries, as of something in pain, and looking round saw an enormous owl
tearing a hare with its claws. The prince laid hold of the first hard
thing that cam