straw to?'

'To the village,' said the man.

'Do you mean to say there is no straw in the village?'

'Ah! but this is quite a peculiar straw. If you strew it about even in
the hottest summer the air at once becomes cold, and snow falls, and the
people freeze.'

Then the Simpleton asked him also to join them.

At last the ship, with its strange crew, arrived at the King's Court.
The King was having his dinner, but he at once despatched one of his
courtiers to find out what the huge, strange new bird could be that had
come flying through the air. The courtier peeped into the ship, and,
seeing what it was, instantly went back to the King and told him that it
was a flying ship, and that it was manned by a few peasants.

Then the King remembered his royal oath; but he made up his mind that
he would never consent to let the Princess marry a poor peasant. So he
thought and thought, and then said to himself:

'I will give him some impossible tasks to perform; that will be the best
way of getting rid of him.' And he there and then decided to despatch
one of his courtiers to the Simpleton, with the command that he was
to fetch the King the healing water from the world's end before he had
finished his dinner.

But while the King was still instructing the courtier exactly what
he was to say, the first man of the ship's company, the one with the
miraculous power of hearing, had overheard the King's words, and hastily
reported them to the poor Simpleton.

'Alas, alas!' he cried; 'what am I to do now? It would take me quite a
year, possibly my whole life, to find the water.'

'Never fear,' said his fleet-footed comrade, 'I will fetch what the King
wants.'

Just then the courtier arrived, bearing the King's command.

'Tell his Majesty,' said the Simpleton, 'that his orders shall be
obeyed; 'and forthwith the swift runner unbound the foot that was strung
up behind his ear and started off, and in less than no time had reached
the world's end and drawn the healing water from the well.

'Dear me,' he thought to himself, 'that's rather tiring! I'll just rest
for a few minutes; it will be some little time yet before the King has
got to dessert.' So he threw himself down on the grass, and, as the sun
was very dazzling, he closed his eyes, and in a few seconds had fallen
sound asleep.

In the meantime all the ship's crew were anxiously awaiting him; the
King's dinner would soon be finished, and their comrade had not yet
retur