“Who are you, young man?”
“I dreamed a dream,” said the lad, “I did not tell it to my mother, I did not tell it to my father, I did not tell it to the traveler, I did not tell it to the Prince; the Prince cast me into prison, and I dug a hole with my dagger and came here. I am at your mercy.”
The maiden fell in love with the lad, and thereafter cherished him not only with her food but with her love, and they accepted one another as husband and wife.
One day the King of the East sent messengers to the Prince bearing a stick which had both ends equal, saying:
“Now, tell me which is the bottom and which is the top of this stick. If you solve this, well and good; if not, you must give your daughter in marriage to my son.”
The Prince called all his wise men into council, but no one could solve the riddle. The princess told it to the lad. The lad said:
“Go and tell your father to tell them to cast the stick into the pond; the bottom end will sink the deeper in the water.”
They did so, and the riddle was solved. On the following day the King of the East sent three horses, all being exactly the same size and having the same appearance, saying:
“Which is the one year old colt, which is the two year old colt, and which is the mother? If you solve this, well and good; if not, you must give your daughter in marriage to my son.”
All the learned men of the Prince could not solve this riddle. The princess, in the evening, said to the lad: