last, one day the biggest lion was
chasing a hare which was blind, for it ran straight over stock and
stone, and the end was, it ran right up against a fir-stump and
tumbled head over heels across the field right into a spring; but lo!
when it came out of the spring it saw its way quite plain, and so
saved its life.

"So, so!" thought the lion, and went and dragged the lad to the
spring, and dipped him over head and ears in it. So, when he had got
his sight again, he went down to the shore and made signs to the lions
that they should all lie close together like a raft; then he stood
upon their backs while they swam with him to the mainland. When he had
reached the shore he went up into a birchen copse, and made the lions
lie quiet. Then he stole up to the castle, like a thief, to see if he
couldn't lay hands on his belt; and when he got to the door, he peeped
through the keyhole, and there he saw his belt hanging up over a door
in the kitchen. So he crept softly in across the floor, for there was
no one there; but as soon as he had got hold of the belt, he began to
kick and stamp about as though he were mad. Just then his mother came
rushing out:

"Dear heart, my darling little boy! do give me the belt again," she
said.

"Thank you kindly," said he. "Now you shall have the doom you passed
on me," and he fulfilled it on the spot. When the old _Troll_ heard
that, he came in and begged and prayed so prettily that he might not
be smitten to death.

"Well, you may live," said the lad, "but you shall undergo the same
punishment you gave me;" and so he burned out the _Troll's_ eyes, and
turned him adrift on the sea in a little boat, but he had no lions to
follow him.

Now the lad was all alone, and he went about longing and longing for
the _Princess_; at last he could bear it no longer; he must set out to
seek her, his heart was so bent on having her. So he loaded four ships
and set sail for Arabia.

For some time they had fair wind and fine weather, but after that they
lay wind-bound under a rocky island. So the sailors went ashore and
strolled about to spend the time, and there they found a huge egg,
almost as big as a little house. So they began to knock it about with
large stones, but, after all, they couldn't crack the shell. Then the
lad came up with his sword to see what all the noise was about, and
when he saw the egg, he thought it a trifle to crack it; so he gave it
one blow and the egg split, and out came a