bride walked over the bridge, but the servant said he would ride the
horses through the stream so as to water and bathe them.

They reached the other side without harm, and bought a new carriage in
the town, which was quite near, and set off once more on their travels;
but they had not gone far when they met a messenger from the king who
said to the prince: 'His Majesty has sent your Royal Highness this
beautiful carriage so that you may make a fitting entry into your own
country and amongst your own people.'

The prince was so delighted that he could not speak. But the servant
said: 'My lord, let me examine this carriage first and then you can get
in if I find it is all right; otherwise we had better stay in our own.'

The prince made no objections, and after looking the carriage well
over the servant said: 'It is as bad as it is smart'; and with that
he knocked it all to pieces, and they went on in the one that they had
bought.

At last they reached the frontier; there another messenger was waiting
for them, who said that the king had sent two splendid robes for the
prince and his bride, and begged that they would wear them for their
state entry. But the servant implored the prince to have nothing to do
with them, and never gave him any peace till he had obtained leave to
destroy the robes.

The old king was furious when he found that all his arts had failed;
that his son still lived and that he would have to give up the crown to
him now he was married, for that was the law of the land. He longed to
know how the prince had escaped, and said: 'My dear son, I do indeed
rejoice to have you safely back, but I cannot imagine why the beautiful
carriage and the splendid robes I sent did not please you; why you had
them destroyed.'

'Indeed, sire,' said the prince, 'I was myself much annoyed at their
destruction; but my servant had begged to direct everything on the
journey and I had promised him that he should do so. He declared that we
could not possibly get home safely unless I did as he told me.'

The old king fell into a tremendous rage. He called his Council together
and condemned the servant to death.

The gallows was put up in the square in front of the palace. The servant
was led out and his sentence read to him.

The rope was being placed round his neck, when he begged to be allowed
a few last words. 'On our journey home,' he said, 'we spent the first
night at an inn. I did not sleep but kept watch all ni