much vexed when the old man came back and told
them this, but as soon as the three months of the Prince's enchantment
were over, he ceased to be an eagle and became once more a man, and
they returned home together. And then they lived happily, and we who
hear the story are happier still.

_THE IRON STOVE_[7]

Once upon a time when wishes came true there was a king's son who was
enchanted by an old witch, so that he was obliged to sit in a large
iron stove in a wood. There he lived for many years, and no one could
free him. At last a king's daughter came into the wood; she had lost
her way, and could not find her father's kingdom again. She had been
wandering round and round for nine days, and she came at last to the
iron case. A voice came from within and asked her, 'Where do you come
from, and where do you want to go?' She answered, 'I have lost my way
to my father's kingdom, and I shall never get home again.' Then the
voice from the iron stove said, 'I will help you to find your home
again, and that in a very short time, if you will promise to do what I
ask you. I am a greater prince than you are a princess, and I will
marry you.' Then she grew frightened, and thought, 'What can a young
lassie do with an iron stove?' But as she wanted very much to go home
to her father, she promised to do what he wished. He said, 'You must
come again, and bring a knife with you to scrape a hole in the iron.'

[Footnote 7: Grimm.]

Then he gave her someone for a guide, who walked near her and said
nothing, but he brought her in two hours to her house. There was great
joy in the castle when the Princess came back, and the old King fell
on her neck and kissed her. But she was very much troubled, and said,
'Dear father, listen to what has befallen me! I should never have come
home again out of the great wild wood if I had not come to an iron
stove, to whom I have had to promise that I will go back to free him
and marry him!' The old King was so frightened that he nearly fainted,
for she was his only daughter. So they consulted together, and
determined that the miller's daughter, who was very beautiful, should
take her place. They took her there, gave her a knife, and said she
must scrape at the iron stove. She scraped for twenty-four hours, but
did not make the least impression. When the day broke, a voice called
from the iron stove, 'It seems to me that it is day outside.' Then she
answered, 'It seems so to me; I think I hea