When the old man heard that, he began to weep, and went home.
What said the snake? ‘Why weepest thou, father?’
The old man said, ‘I am weeping, darling, for the miseries which God sends me. The king wants a golden bridge from his palace to our house, and apple and pear-trees on the side of this bridge.’
The snake said, ‘Fear not, father, for I will do as the king said.’ Then the snake thought and thought, and the golden bridge was made as the king had said. The snake did that in the night-time. The king arose at midnight; he thought the sun was at meat [i.e. it was noon]. He scolded the servants for not having called him in the morning.
The servants said, ‘King, it is night, not day’; and, seeing that, the king marvelled.
In the morning the old man came. ‘Good-day, father-in-law.’
‘Thank you, father-in-law. Go, father-in-law, and bring your son, that we may hold the wedding.’
He, when he went, said, ‘Hearken, what says the king? You are to go there for the king to see you.’
What said the snake? ‘My father, if that be so, fetch the cart, and put in the horses, and I will get into it to go to the king.’
No sooner said, no sooner done. He got into the cart and drove to the king. When the king saw him, he trembled with all his lords. One lord older than the rest, said, ‘Fly not, O king, it were not well of you. For he did what you told him; and shall not you do what you promised? He [[24]]will kill us all. Give him your daughter, and hold the marriage as you promised.’