And he found a stone, and put it in the basket, and jerked the rope. ‘If they haul up the stone, they will also haul up me.’ And they hauled it half-way up, and the rope broke, and they left him to perish, for they thought he was in the basket. And he began to weep. And he went into the palace where the dragon dwelt, and pulled out a box, and found a rusty ring. And he is cleaning it; out of it came a lord, and said, ‘What do you want, master?’
‘Carry me out into the world.’
And he took him up on his shoulders, and carried him out. And he took two pails of water. When he washed himself with one, his face was changed; and when with the other, it became as it was before. And he brought him to a tailor in his father’s city.
And he washed himself with the water, and his face was changed. And he went to that tailor; and that tailor was [[88]]in his father’s employment. And he hired himself as a prentice to the tailor for a twelvemonth, just to watch the baby in another room. The tailor had twelve prentices. And the tailor did not recognise him, nor his brothers.
The eldest brother proposed to the youngest sister, whom the seer had saved from the dragon. And she said, ‘No, I have sworn not to marry until my own one comes.’ The middle son also proposed; she said, ‘I will not, until my own one comes.’
So the eldest son married the eldest girl; the middle son married the middle girl; and they called the tailor to make them wedding garments, and gave him cloth.
And the emperor’s son said, ‘Give it me to make.’
‘No, I won’t, you wouldn’t fit him properly.’
‘Give it me. I’ll pay the damage if I don’t sew it right.’
The tailor gave it him, and he rubbed the ring. Out came a little lord, and said, ‘What do you want, master?’