ce.

'Where did you get this?' she said to Niels.

Niels was silent, and wondered what the usual penalty was for a poor
sheep-farmer's son who was so unfortunate as to deliver a princess and
carry off things from her bed-room.

'See what else he has about him,' said the princess to the steward,
and Niels had to submit to be searched: out of one pocket came a
gold-embroidered slipper, and out of another the half of a gold-hemmed
handkerchief.

'That is enough,' said the princess; 'now we needn't ask any more
questions. Send for my father the king at once.'

'Please let me go,' said Niels; 'I did you as much good as harm, at any
rate.'

'Why, who said anything about doing harm?' said the princess. 'You must
stay here till my father comes.'

The way in which the princess smiled when she said this gave Niels some
hope that things might not be bad for him after all, and he was yet more
encouraged when he thought of the words engraver on the horn, though the
last line still seemed too good to be true. However, the arrival of the
king soon settled the matter: the princess was willing and so was Niels,
and in a few days the wedding bells were ringing. Niels was made an earl
by that time, and looked as handsome as any of them when dressed in all
his robes. Before long the old king died, and Niels reigned after him;
but whether his father and mother stayed with him, or went back to
the moor in Jutland, or were sent to Rome in a carriage and four,
is something that all the historians of his reign have forgotten to
mention.

Shepherd Paul

Once upon a time a shepherd was taking his flock out to pasture, when he
found a little baby lying in a meadow, left there by some wicked person,
who thought it was too much trouble to look after it. The shepherd was
fond of children, so he took the baby home with him and gave it plenty
of milk, and by the time the boy was fourteen he could tear up oaks
as if they were weeds. Then Paul, as the shepherd had called him, grew
tired of living at home, and went out into the world to try his luck.

He walked on for many miles, seeing nothing that surprised him, but in
an open space of the wood he was astonished at finding a man combing
trees as another man would comb flax.

'Good morning, friend,' said Paul; 'upon my word, you must be a strong
man!'

The man stopped his work and laughed. 'I am Tree Comber,' he answered
proudly; 'and the greatest wish of my life is to wrestle with