'I will go forth and seek him,' replied the Prince without wavering. 'If he is stronger than I, then you will see neither me nor my wife again; but, if I prevail, we will return to you.'
So the Prince set forth on his quest; and after three days' journey, he came to a beautiful city. And, as he rode beneath the walls of a castle, he heard a voice from a window high in the tower, calling to him. He drew rein and dismounted; then, as he advanced into the courtyard, a girl came running towards him.
'O my brother!' she cried; 'you have come at last!'
It was his eldest sister whom he had found so easily. They embraced and kissed, and then she led him into the castle.
'And your husband?' he asked as they stepped aside into a dimly-lighted antechamber; 'who and what is he?'
'He is the Dragon King,' she replied in a whisper; 'and he is no friend of my brothers. Yet I will hide you, and then ask him what he would do if you sought me out.'
That evening, when the Dragon King came home on whirring wings, there was no sign of either the Prince or his charger. Yet he raised his nostrils in the air and sniffed.
'I smell a human being,' he said. 'Confess, woman; who is it?'
'No one,' replied she. But he was certain about the matter, saying that his senses had never yet deceived him, though a woman might.