When the king had heard the stories of the two princes he was greatly pleased with what they had done. “The one who killed the beast shall have a princess for a bride,” said he, “and the one who killed the birds he too shall have a princess for his bride.”
The youngest princess saw the lad from the river standing among the servants and smiled into his eyes. The lad came and threw himself before the king. “O my king,” said he, “these stories to which you have listened are false, as all these assembled cavalheiros will prove. It is I who killed the beast and all the birds. I claim a princess as my bride.”
All the assembled cavalheiros recognized the lad in spite of his changed appearance in his gardening clothes. “Viva!” they shouted. “He speaks the truth. He is the valiant one of us who killed the beast and the birds. To him belongs the reward.”
The youngest princess had a heart filled with joy. The wedding feast was celebrated the very next day. The river giant found out about it and sent a necklace of pearls and diamonds as a wedding gift to the bride of the lad whom he had brought up in his palace. The fisherman and his wife, however, never knew the great good fortune which had come to their son.
IX
THE BEAST SLAYER
Once upon a time there was a man and his wife who were very poor. The man earned his living making wooden bowls and platters to sell and worked early and late, but wooden bowls and platters were so very cheap that he could barely support his family no matter how hard he worked. The man and his wife were the parents of three lovely daughters. They were all exceedingly beautiful, and the man and his wife often lamented the fact that they did not have money enough to educate them and clothe them fittingly.
One day there came to the door of the poor man’s house a handsome young man mounted on a beautiful horse. He asked to buy one of the poor man’s daughters. The father was very much shocked at this request. “I may be poor,” said he, “but I am not so poor that I have to sell my children.”
The young man, however, threatened to kill him if he refused to do his bidding; so finally, after a short struggle, the father consented to part with his eldest daughter. He received a great sum of money in return.
The father was now a rich man and did not wish to make bowls and platters any longer. His wife, however, urged him to keep on with his former occupation. Accordingly he went on with his work. The very next day there came to his door another young man, even handsomer than the other, mounted upon even a finer horse. This young man made the same request that the other had done. He wanted to buy one of the daughters.