“Here, Master,” he said, “here is the acorn. Take it and throw it upon the floor.”
The Prince threw the acorn upon the floor, and at once it flew open, and there stood the Princess before him.
Hardly had this happened when the door opened and the Magician came into the room. When he saw the Princess he gave a cry of rage, and one of the iron bands about his middle broke with a loud noise.
He looked at the Prince, and his eyes flashed as if with red fire. “This time you have succeeded in keeping the Princess with you,” he cried, “but do not be too sure that you can do the same thing again. To-night you shall try once more.”
So saying he went away, taking the Princess with him. In the evening he came again, and again he brought the Princess.
“Watch her well,” said he to the Prince, with an evil smile. “Remember, if she is not still here to-morrow morning you will share the fate of the others who have tried to watch her and have failed.”
“Very well,” answered the Prince. “What must be must be, and I can only do my best.”
The Magician then went away, leaving the Princess with them as before.
The Prince and his companions had determined that this night they would stay awake, whatever happened, but presently their eyelids grew as heavy as lead, and soon, in spite of themselves, they all fell into a deep sleep.
When they awoke the day was breaking, and the Princess had again disappeared. The Prince was ready to tear his hair with despair, but Sharpsight bade him take heart.
“Wait until I take a look about,” he said. “If I cannot see her, then it will be time for you to despair.”
He leaned from the window, and first he looked east, and then he looked west, and then he looked toward the north. “Yes, now I see her,” he said, “but she is far enough away. Two hundred miles from here is a desert. In that desert is a rock, in that rock is a golden ring, and that ring is the Princess.”
“That is far away indeed,” groaned the Prince, “and at any moment the Magician may be here.”
“Never mind, Master,” cried Long. “Two hundred miles is not so far when one can go twenty miles at a step.” He then made himself twice as tall as the day before, and taking Sharpsight on his shoulders he set out for the desert.
It was not long before he was back again, and in his hand he carried the golden ring. “If it had not been for Sharpsight,” he said, “I would have been forced to bring back the whole rock with me, but he fixed his eyes upon it, and at once it split into a thousand pieces and the ring fell out. Here! Take the ring, Master, quick, and throw it upon the floor.”
The Prince did so, and as soon as the ring touched the ground it was transformed into the Princess.
At this moment the Magician opened the door and came into the room. When he saw the Princess he stopped short, and his face turned black with rage and fear. At the same moment the second band about his middle flew apart.
“Ah, well!” he cried to the Prince, “no doubt you think you are very clever, but remember there is still another night, and next time you may not prove so lucky in keeping the Princess with you.”
So saying he went away with the Princess, and the Prince saw him no more until evening. Then for the third time he came, and brought the Princess with him.
“Watch her well,” said he, “for I promise you will not have so easy a task this time as you have had before.”
Then he went away, and the four comrades set themselves to watch. But again all happened as it had before. In spite of themselves they could not stay awake. First they nodded and then they snored, and then they fell into such a deep sleep that if the walls had fallen about them they would not have known it. For this was an enchanted sleep that the Magician had thrown upon them in order to take away the Princess.
Not until day began to dawn did the four awake, and when they did there was nothing to be seen of the Princess.
“Well, she is not here in the room,” said Sharpsight, “so methinks I’d better look outside.”
Then he leaned from the window, and for a long time he looked about him. At last he spoke. “Master, I see the Princess, but to bring her back will not be such an easy task as it was before. Three hundred miles from here is a sea. At the bottom of the sea is a shell. In that shell is a pearl, and that pearl is the Princess. But to bring that pearl up from the sea is a task for Broad as well as Long.”
“Very well,” said the Prince, “then Long must take Broad with him on one shoulder. Only make haste and return again quickly, in heaven’s name, or the Magician may be here before you are back, and we shall be turned into stone.”
Well, the three servants were willing enough to be off. Long stretched himself out until he was three times as tall as he had been the first time, and that was the most he could stretch. Then he went away, thirty miles at a step. At that rate it was no time before he came to the sea. But the sea was fathoms deep, and the shell lay at the very bottom of it, and try as he might he could not reach it.
“Now it is my turn,” said Broad. Then he lay down and put his mouth to the sea and began to drink. He drank and drank and swelled and swelled until it was wonderful to see him, and in the end he swallowed so much of the water that it was easy enough for Long to reach down and pick up the shell.
“And now we must make haste,” cried Sharpsight, “for as I look back at the castle I see that the Magician is already waking.”
At once Long took his companions on his shoulders and started back the way he had come. But Broad had drunk so much water and was so heavy that Long could not go as fast as he otherwise would. “Broad, you will have to wait here, and I will come back for you later,” he cried, and with that he threw Broad down from his shoulder as though he had been a sack full of grain.
Broad had not been expecting such a fall and was not prepared for it. He gasped and choked, and then the sea he had swallowed rose all about them; it filled the valley and washed up over the foot of the mountains. Long was so tall that he was able to wade out of it, though the water was up to his waist, and Sharpsight too was safe, for he was on Long’s shoulder; but Broad was like to have been drowned. He only saved himself by catching hold of Long’s hand, and so he was drawn out of the water and up on dry land.
“That was a pretty trick to play upon me,” he gasped and spluttered.
But Long had no time to answer him, for already Sharpsight was whispering in his ear that the Magician had awakened and was now on his way to the Prince. He caught Broad by the belt and swung him up on his shoulder, and this he could easily do, because now Broad was so shrunken that he was quite light.
THERE WAS A GREAT BLACK RAVEN IN THE ROOM WITH THEM
In two more steps Long had reached the castle, but already the Magician was opening the door of the chamber where the Prince was.
“Quick! Quick!” cried Sharpsight. “Throw the pearl in at the window.”
And indeed there was no time to be lost. Long threw the pearl in through the window, and the moment it touched the floor it turned into the Princess. She stood there before the Prince, no longer pale and sad, but smiling and as rosy as the dawn.
Already the Magician was in the room, with an evil smile upon his face. When he saw the Princess standing there he gave a cry so loud and terrible that the whole castle shook with it. And now the third