g over a bridge the carriage suddenly
stood still, and the coachman turned round to her and said, 'Your
deliverer has gone, and doesn't thank you for your gratitude. It would
be nice of you to make a poor fellow happy; therefore you may tell your
father that it was I who slew the dragon, and if you refuse to, I will
throw you into the river, and no one will be any the wiser, for they
will think the dragon has devoured you.'

The maiden was in a dreadful state when she heard these words; but there
was nothing for her to do but to swear that she would give out the
coachman as her deliverer, and not to divulge the secret to anyone. So
they returned to the capital, and everyone was delighted when they saw
the Princess had returned unharmed; the black flags were taken down from
all the palace towers, and gay-coloured ones put up in their place, and
the King embraced his daughter and her supposed rescuer with tears of
joy, and, turning to the coachman, he said, 'You have not only saved the
life of my child, but you have also freed the country from a terrible
scourge; therefore, it is only fitting that you should be richly
rewarded. Take, therefore, my daughter for your wife; but as she is
still so young, do not let the marriage be celebrated for another year.'

The coachman thanked the King for his graciousness, and was then led
away to be richly dressed and instructed in all the arts and graces that
befitted his new position. But the poor Princess wept bitterly, though
she did not dare to confide her grief to anyone. When the year was over,
she begged so hard for another year's respite that it was granted to
her. But this year passed also, and she threw herself at her father's
feet, and begged so piteously for one more year that the King's heart
was melted, and he yielded to her request, much to the Princess's joy,
for she knew that her real deliverer would appear at the end of the
third year. And so the year passed away like the other two, and the
wedding-day was fixed, and all the people were prepared to feast and
make merry.

But on the wedding-day it happened that a stranger came to the town with
three black dogs. He asked what the meaning of all the feasting and fuss
was, and they told him that the King's daughter was just going to be
married to the man who had slain the terrible dragon. The stranger at
once denounced the coachman as a liar; but no one would listen to him,
and he was seized and thrown into a cell with