she reached the
castle. At last she came in sight of it, and just then she met a girl
driving a flock of geese.

'Good-day!' said the princess; 'can you tell me if this is the castle
of the Green Knight?'

'Yes, that it is,' answered the goose girl, 'for I am driving his
geese. But the Green Knight is very ill, and they say that unless he
can be cured within three days he will surely die.'

At this news the princess grew as white as death. The ground seemed to
spin round, and she closed her hand tight on a bush that was standing
beside her. By-and-by, with a great effort, she recovered herself and
said to the goose girl:

'Would you like to have a fine silk dress to wear?'

The goose girl's eyes glistened.

'Yes, that I would!' answered she.

'Then take off your dress and give it to me, and I will give you
mine,' said the princess.

[Illustration: THE PRINCESS CHANGES CLOTHES WITH THE GOOSE-GIRL]

The girl could scarcely believe her ears, but the princess was
already unfastening her beautiful silk dress, and taking off her silk
stockings and pretty red shoes; and the goose girl lost no time in
slipping out of her rough linen skirt and tunic. Then the princess put
on the other's rags and let down her hair, and went to the kitchen to
ask for a place.

'Do you want a kitchen-maid?' she said.

'Yes, we do,' answered the cook, who was too busy to ask the new-comer
many questions.

The following day, after a good night's rest, the princess set about
her new duties. The other servants were speaking of their master, and
saying to each other how ill he was, and that unless he could be cured
within three days he would surely die.

The princess thought of the snakes, and the bird's advice, and lifting
her head from the pots and pans she was scouring, she said: 'I know
how to make a soup that has such a wonderful power that whoever tastes
it is sure to be cured, whatever his illness may be. As the doctors
cannot cure your master shall I try?'

At first they all laughed at her.

'What! a scullion cure the knight when the best physicians in the
kingdom have failed?'

But at last, just because all the physicians _had_ failed, they
decided that it would do no harm to try; and she ran off joyfully to
fetch her basket of snakes and make them into broth. When this was
ready she carried some to the knight's room and entered it boldly,
pushing aside all the learned doctors who stood beside his bed. The
poor knight