, and one
chestnut. There was nothing in the room for the horses to eat except
meat, but in spite of it they were fat and well nourished. The boy did
not touch anything and when he went out he shut the door.

At the end of another fifteen days all alone without even the voice of
the river giant for company, the lad tried another key in another
door. This room opened into a room full of armour. There were daggers
and knives and swords and muskets and all sorts of armour which the
boy had never seen and did not know anything about. He was very much
interested in what he saw, but he did not meddle with anything.

The next day he opened the room again where the horses were kept. This
time one of the horses,--the black one,--spoke to him and said, "We
like hay to eat very much better than this meat which was left to us
by mistake. The lion must have our hay. Please give this meat to the
lion and bring us back our hay. If you will do this as I ask I'll
serve you for ever and ever."

The boy took the meat to the lion. The lion was very much pleased to
exchange the hay for it. The lad then took the hay to the horses. All
at once he remembered how he had been told not to meddle with
anything. This had been meddling. The boy burst into tears. "I shall
lose my life as the punishment for this deed," he sobbed.

The horses listened in amazement. "I got you into this trouble," said
the black horse. "Now I'll get you out. Just trust me to find a way
out."

The black horse advised the boy to take some extra clothes and a sword
and musket and mount upon his back. "I have lived here in the depths
of the river so long that my speed is greater than that of the river
itself," said the horse. "If there was any doubt of it before, now
that I have had some hay once more I am sure I can run faster than any
river in the world."

It was true. When the river giant came back home and found that the
boy had meddled he ran as fast as he could in pursuit of the lad. The
black horse safely and surely carried the lad beyond his reach.

The black horse and his rider travelled on and on until finally they
came to a kingdom which was ruled over by a king who had three
beautiful daughters. The lad at once applied for a position in the
service of this king. "I do not know what you can do," said the king.
"You have such soft white hands. Perhaps you may serve to carry
bouquets of flowers from my garden every morning to my three
daughters."

The lad