“Oh, no,” replied the boy, “the wild ones have more scent, and will please her better.”
When he went into the room, the King’s Daughter said, “Take your cap off, it is not seemly to keep it on in my presence.”
He again said, “I cannot.”
She, however, caught at his hat and pulled it off, and then his golden hair rolled down on his shoulders. And it was splendid to behold.
He wanted to run out, but she held him by the arm, and gave him a handful of ducats. With these he departed, but he cared nothing for the gold pieces. He took them to the gardener, and said, “I give them to your children, they may play with them.”
The following day, the King’s Daughter again called to him that he was to bring her a wreath of field-flowers. When he went in with it, she snatched at his hat, and wanted to take it away from him, but he held it fast with both hands. She again gave him a handful of ducats. But he would not keep them, and presented them to the gardener as playthings for his children.
On the third day, things went just the same. She could not get his hat away from him, and he would not have her money.
Not long afterward, the country was overrun by war. The King gathered together his people, and did not know whether or not he could overcome the enemy, who was superior in strength and had a mighty army.
Then said the gardener’s boy, “I am grown up, and will go to the wars also, only give me a horse.”
The others laughed, and said, “Seek one for yourself when we are gone. We will leave one behind us in the stable for you.”