lay.
Ring said he was welcome to do so, and that he deserved more from him
than that came to. So Snati went up into the Prince's bed, but after a
time he came back, and told Ring he could go there himself now, but to
take care not to meddle with anything that was in the bed.

Now the story comes back to Red, who came into the hall and showed the
King his right arm wanting the hand, and said that now he could see what
kind of a man his intended son-in-law was, for he had done this to him
without any cause whatever. The King became very angry, and said he
would soon find out the truth about it, and if Ring had cut off his hand
without good cause he should be hanged; but if it was otherwise, then
Red should die. So the King sent for Ring and asked him for what reason
he had done this. Snati, however, had just told Ring what had happened
during the night, and in reply he asked the King to go with him and he
would show him something. The King went with him to his sleeping-room,
and saw lying on the bed a man's hand holding a sword.

'This hand,' said Ring, 'came over the partition during the night, and
was about to run me through in my bed, if I had not defended myself.'

The King answered that in that case he could not blame him for
protecting his own life, and that Red was well worthy of death. So Red
was hanged, and Ring married the King's daughter.

The first night that they went to bed together Snati asked Ring to allow
him to lie at their feet, and this Ring allowed him to do. During the
night he heard a howling and outcry beside them, struck a light in a
hurry and saw an ugly dog's skin lying near him, and a beautiful Prince
in the bed. Ring instantly took the skin and burned it, and then shook
the Prince, who was lying unconscious, until he woke up. The bridegroom
then asked his name; he replied that he was called Ring, and was a
King's son. In his youth he had lost his mother, and in her place his
father had married a witch, who had laid a spell on him that he should
turn into a dog, and never be released from the spell unless a Prince
of the same name as himself allowed him to sleep at his feet the first
night after his marriage. He added further, 'As soon as she knew that
you were my namesake she tried to get you destroyed, so that you
might not free me from the spell. She was the hind that you and your
companions chased; she was the woman that you found in the clearing with
the barrel, and the old hag that we