put
on the glittering suit of armour, and was borne on the back of the horse
through the air, to where the battle was being fought. And once more he
routed the king's enemies, hacking to right and left with his sword. And
again they all cried: 'A god has come to our rescue!' But when they
tried to detain him the black horse rose in the air and bore him out of
their sight.

When the king and his sons-in-law returned home they could talk of
nothing but the hero who had fought for them, and all wondered who he
could be.

Shortly afterwards the king of a neighbouring country declared war, and
once more the king and his sons-in-law and his subjects had to prepare
themselves for battle, and once more the prince begged to ride with
them, but the king said he had no horse to spare for him. 'But,' he
added, 'you may take the horse of the woodman who brings the wood from
the forest, it is good enough for you.'

So the prince took the woodman's horse, but it was so old and useless
that it could not carry him beyond the castle gates. So he betook
himself once more to the vaulted hall, where the black horse had
prepared a still more magnificent suit of armour for him than the one he
had worn on the previous occasions, and when he had put it on, and
mounted on the back of the horse, he bore him straight to the
battle-field, and once more he scattered the king's enemies, fighting
single-handed in their ranks, and they fled in all directions. But it
happened that one of the enemy struck with his sword and wounded the
prince in the leg. And the king took his own pocket-handkerchief, with
his name and crown embroidered on it, and bound it round the wounded
leg. And the king would fain have compelled him to mount in a litter and
be carried straight to the palace, and two of his knights were to lead
the black charger to the royal stables. But the prince put his hand on
the mane of his faithful horse, and managed to pull himself up into the
saddle, and the horse mounted into the air with him. Then they all
shouted and cried: 'The warrior who has fought for us is a god! He must
be a god.'

And throughout all the kingdom nothing else was spoken about, and all
the people said: 'Who can the hero be who has fought for us in so many
battles? He cannot be a man, he must be a god.'

And the king said: 'If only I could see him once more, and if it turned
out that after all he was a man and not a god, I would reward him with
half my kingdom.'