eemed least protected; but the point
of his lance got entangled in the shirt of mail that Hans wore beneath
his plate armour without doing further injury to him, while Hans' lance
pierced through the left eye of his foe, and passing through the back of
his skull, helmet and all, pinned him to the ground, whilst his horse
galloped off through the crowd.

Now, the news of the return of their sister and the defeat of their
champions soon reached the ears of the twin princesses, who knew not how
to contain their rage; but the Princess Clothilde, the more wily and
wicked of the two, bribed her followers with large sums of money to
feign to vote for the Princess Bertha, and thus make friends with this
stranger knight, and invite him into their houses, to offer him a cup of
wine after the fatigue of the combat, which, when unobserved, she
commanded them to drug, and as soon as he was insensible he was to be
carried off to prison and loaded with chains, care being taken to secure
the Princess Bertha at the same time.

Hereupon all those who had formerly voted for the Princess Clothilde
commenced to shout, "Long live the Princess Bertha!"

But the little princess, suspecting treachery--for she recognised the
faces of the men who now shouted for her as being the same as before
shouted for her sister--warned her spouse not to receive any man's
hospitality but the arch-priest's, telling him that if he disobeyed her
command it might cost him his life.

Hans promised to obey, but when he saw so many well-dressed gentlemen of
the court come forward to offer him their congratulations and invite him
so cordially to their houses, being very simple and unsuspicious, he
forgot the warning of his spouse, though she did all in her power by
pinching and biting him to make him remember, and he accepted the
invitation of a certain lord, imagining his spouse's vehement urging to
be nothing more than the bite of a flea.

"Fool!" cried the princess, "you will ruin both yourself and me;" but
Hans paid no attention, for he was hungry and thirsty.

The great lord who had invited Hans to his mansion possessed all the
polished manners of a courtier, though he had a very black heart, and
easily working himself into Hans' affections, he locked his arm within
the arm of Hans, and led him to his home.

"May I also have the honour of entertaining Her Royal Highness the
Princess Bertha?" asked the nobleman.

"Oh, yes," said Hans in his simple manner