, saying that if the youth, now in the palace, was not sent
to Turkey within three days, a large army would cross the border. The
king's heart was sorrowful as he read, for he was grateful to the lad
for what he had done to help him; but the boy only laughed, and bade the
king fear nothing, but to search the town instantly for two youths just
like each other, and he would paint himself a mask that was just like
them. And the sword at his side clanked loudly.

After a long search twin brothers were found, so exactly resembling
each other that even their own mother could not tell the difference. The
youth painted a mask that was the precise copy of them, and when he had
put it on, no one would have known one boy from the other. They set out
at once for the Sultan's palace, and when they reached it, they were
taken straight into his presence. He made a sign for them to come near;
they all bowed low in greeting. He asked them about their journey; they
answered his questions all together, and in the same words. If one sat
down to supper, the others sat down at the same instant. When one got
up, the others got up too, as if there had been only one body between
them. The Sultan could not detect any difference between them, and he
told his aunt that he would not be so cruel as to kill all three.

'Well, you will see a difference to-morrow,' replied the witch, 'for one
will have a cut on his sleeve. That is the youth you must kill.' And one
hour before midnight, when witches are invisible, she glided into the
room where all three lads were sleeping in the same bed. She took out
a pair of scissors and cut a small piece out of the boy's coat-sleeve
which was hanging on the wall, and then crept silently from the room.
But in the morning the youth saw the slit, and he marked the sleeves of
his two companions in the same way, and all three went down to breakfast
with the Sultan. The old witch was standing in the window and pretended
not to see them; but all witches have eyes in the backs of their heads,
and she knew at once that not one sleeve but three were cut, and they
were all as alike as before. After breakfast, the Sultan, who was
getting tired of the whole affair and wanted to be alone to invent some
other plan, told them they might return home. So, bowing low with one
accord, they went.

The princess welcomed the boy back joyfully, but the poor youth was not
allowed to rest long in peace, for one day a fresh letter arrived f