Then said the old mother to the hostess, ‘Believe him not, believe him not, for that is not true which he tells you.’
‘Let him proceed. What have you then done?’ the hostess asked him.
‘I—have done nothing.’
‘You must have done something.’
‘Well then, I have lain with you. I took away the ring; I took half the cloth of gold; a slipper I took from you—that I carried off. And I took me a sword, and went out, shut the door behind me. Then I went to where the robbers were, called to them to step through the hole one after another. As they came through the hole, I cut off each one’s head, and flung him aside.’
Then the hostess saw it was true. ‘Then you will be my man.’
And he drew the things out, and showed them to her. And they straightway embraced, and kissed one another. And she went into the little room, fetched the boy. ‘See, that is your child; I am your wife.’
Forthwith she bids them harness two horses to the carriage; they drove to the castle. When they reached it, [[151]]she said to her father, ‘Father dear, see, I have soon found my husband.’
Forthwith they made a feast, invited everybody. Forthwith the banns were proclaimed, and they were married. The floor there was made of paper, and I came away here.
Identical with Grimm’s No. 111, ‘The Skilful Huntsman’ (ii. 102), but in some points more closely resembling the variants on p. 412. There are also some striking analogies to our Welsh-Gypsy story of ‘An Old King and his Three Sons in England,’ No. 55.