his own
palace, and joined to it a bridge of pure crystal.

At each side of the bridge trees were growing, from whose branches
hung golden and silver apples, among which birds of Paradise perched.
At the right, gleaming in the sun, were the five golden cupolas of a
splendid church, whose bells rang out, as if they would summon people
from all corners of the earth to come and behold the wonder. Now,
though the King would much rather have seen his future son-in-law
tarred, feathered, and burnt at the stake, he remembered his royal
oath, and had to make the best of a bad business. So he took heart of
grace, and made Martin a Duke, and gave his daughter a rich dowry, and
prepared the grandest wedding-feast that had ever been seen, so that
to this day the old people in the country still talk of it.

After the wedding Martin and his royal bride went to dwell in the
magnificent new palace, and here Martin lived in the greatest comfort
and luxury, such luxury as he had never imagined. But though he was as
happy as the day was long, and as merry as a grig, the King's daughter
fretted all day, thinking of the indignity that had been done her in
making her marry Martin, the poor widow's son, instead of a rich young
Prince from a foreign country. So unhappy was she that she spent all
her time wondering how she should get rid of her undesirable husband.
And first she determined to learn the secret of his power, and, with
flattering, caressing words, she tried to coax him to tell her how he
was so clever that there was nothing in the world that he could not
do. At first he would tell her nothing; but once, when he was in a
yielding mood, she approached him with a winning smile on her lovely
face, and, speaking flattering words to him, she gave him a potion to
drink, with a sweet, strong taste. And when he had drunk it Martin's
lips were unsealed, and he told her that all his power lay in the
magic ring that he wore on his finger, and he described to her how to
use it, and, still speaking, he fell into a deep sleep. And when she
saw that the potion had worked, and that he was sound asleep, the
Princess took the magic ring from his finger, and, going into the
courtyard, she threw it from the palm of one hand into the other. On
the instant the twelve youths appeared, and asked her what she
commanded them to do. Then she told them that by the next morning they
were to do away with the castle, and the bridge, and the church, and
put in