's feet.

"Where is the toll? Where have you got the soul?" cried the devil.

"Why, inside this fir block," said the youngster; "if you want it you
will have to spit in your hands and take it."

"No, many thanks! If she does not come to me, I am sure I shan't take
her," said the devil. "You got me once into a pinch, and I'll take care
you don't get me into another," and with that he flew straight home to
his old mother, and since that time he has never been heard or seen
thereabouts.

The youngster went home to the palace and asked for the reward the king
had promised him, and when the king wanted to get out of it, and would
not stick to what he had promised, the youngster said it was best he got
a good bag of food ready for him and he would take his reward himself.

Yes, the king would see to that, and when the bag was ready the
youngster asked the king to come outside the door. The youngster then
gave the king such a kick, which sent him flying up in the air. The bag
he threw after him that he might not be without food; and if he has not
come down again by this he is floating about with his bag between heaven
and earth to this very day.

XVIII

HANS, WHO MADE THE PRINCESS LAUGH

Once upon a time there was a king, who had a daughter, and she was so
lovely that the reports of her beauty went far and wide; but she was so
melancholy that she never laughed, and besides she was so grand and
proud that she said "No" to all who came to woo her--she would not have
any of them, were they ever so fine, whether they were princes or
noblemen.

The king was tired of this whim of hers long ago, and thought she ought
to get married like other people; there was nothing she need wait
for--she was old enough and she would not be any richer either, for she
was to have half the kingdom, which she inherited after her mother.

So he made known every Sunday after the service, from the steps outside
the church, that he that could make his daughter laugh should have both
her and half the kingdom. But if there were any one who tried and could
not make her laugh, he would have three red stripes cut out of his back
and salt rubbed into them--and, sad to relate, there were many sore
backs in that kingdom. Lovers from south and from north, from east and
from west, came to try their luck--they thought it was an easy thing to
make a princess laugh. They were a queer lot altogether, but for all
their cleverness and for all the tric