‘Well, what am I to do, old woman?’
‘Go you, old man, and find a son for us.’
So the old man arose in the morning, and took his axe in [[22]]his hand, and departed and journeyed till mid-day, and came into a forest, and sought three days and found nothing. Then the old man could do no more for hunger. He set out to return home. So as he was coming back, he found a little snake and put it in a handkerchief, and carried it home. And he brought up the snake on sweet milk. The snake grew a week and two days, and he put it in a jar. The time came when the snake grew as big as the jar. The snake talked with his father, ‘My time has come to marry me. Go, father, to the king, and ask his daughter for me.’
When the old man heard that the snake wants the king’s daughter, he smote himself with his hands. ‘Woe is me, darling! How can I go to the king? For the king will kill me.’
What said he? ‘Go, father, and fear not. For what he wants of you, that will I give him.’
The old man went to the king. ‘All hail, O king!’
‘Thank you, old man.’
‘King, I am come to form an alliance by marriage.’
‘An alliance by marriage!’ said the king. ‘You are a peasant, and I am a king.’
‘That matters not, O king. If you will give me your daughter, I will give you whatever you want.’