‘Remove this rock from its place.’
‘But we cannot.’
‘Come, I will remove it.’
He put his little finger on it, and moved it aside.[9] ‘Hah!’ said he, ‘here is our mother. Who will let himself down?’
And they said, ‘Not I.’
The youngest said, ‘Come with me into the forest, and we will strip off bark and make a rope.’
They did so, and they made a basket.
‘I will lower myself down, and when I jerk the rope haul me up.’
So he let himself down, and came to house No. 1. There he found an emperor’s daughter, whom the dragon had brought and kept prisoner.
And she said, ‘Why are you here? The dragon will kill you when he comes.’ [[87]]