bade him only not be afraid,
but stick on, and so he jumped into the lake with the _Prince_ on his
back, and swam over to the island. So they came to the church; but the
church keys hung high, high up on the top of the tower, and at first
the _Prince_ did not know how to get them down.

"You must call on the raven," said the _Wolf_.

So the _Prince_ called on the raven, and in a trice the raven came,
and flew up and fetched the keys, and so the _Prince_ got into the
church. But when he came to the well, there lay the duck, and swam
about backwards and forwards, just as the _Giant_ had said. So the
_Prince_ stood and coaxed it, till it came to him, and he grasped it
in his hand; but just as he lifted it up from the water the duck
dropped the egg into the well, and then _Boots_ was beside himself to
know how to get it out again.

"Well, now you must call on the salmon to be sure," said the _Wolf_;
and the king's son called on the salmon, and the salmon came and
fetched up the egg from the bottom of the well.

Then the _Wolf_ told him to squeeze the egg, and as soon as ever he
squeezed it the _Giant_ screamed out.

"Squeeze it again," said the _Wolf_; and when the _Prince_ did so, the
_Giant_ screamed still more piteously, and begged and prayed so
prettily to be spared, saying he would do all that the _Prince_ wished
if he would only not squeeze his heart in two.

"Tell him, if he will restore to life again your six brothers and
their brides, whom he has turned to stone, you will spare his life,"
said the _Wolf_. Yes, the _Giant_ was ready to do that, and he turned
the six brothers into king's sons again, and their brides into king's
daughters.

"Now, squeeze the egg in two," said the _Wolf_. So _Boots_ squeezed
the egg to pieces, and the _Giant_ burst at once.

Now, when he had made an end of the _Giant_, _Boots_ rode back again
on the _Wolf_ to the _Giant's_ house, and there stood all his six
brothers alive and merry, with their brides. Then _Boots_ went into
the hill-side after his bride, and so they all set off home again to
their father's house. And you may fancy how glad the old king was when
he saw all his seven sons come back, each with his bride--"But the
loveliest bride of all is the bride of _Boots_, after all," said the
king, "and he shall sit uppermost at the table, with her by his
side."

So he sent out, and called a great wedding-feast, and the mirth was
both loud and long, and if they have not