"That would bruise it. I shall climb up and get it for you."
He swung himself up, avoiding the great snake which looked at him warily.
"Do not go any higher," cried the Princess; "the branch will break, and you will be killed."
But he laughed at her, and climbing higher seized the apple, then the branch did break. She screamed a little.
"You are bruised instead of the apple," she said, as he picked himself up.
He laughed.
"I have done wonderful things to-day," he said. "At dawn I killed a lion; and at eve I got an apple for a Princess."
"But are you not one of the court-pages? I thought you were. Who are you to kill lions, which are preserved for the King?"
"I am Adamaharon, the son of Na'amah, the cousin of the King."
She offered him the apple, and he bit a large piece out of it.