The princess begged the man to climb the tree and shake it, so that she might have some of the fruit to eat. “I’ll gratify thee just once,” said he. But he was so cunning that he did not leave the cap or magic mantle on the ground, but took them up on the tree, hung them both on a limb, and shook the tree with all his might. The cap and the mantle fell to the ground before the pears. The princess put the cap on her head at once, wrapped the mantle around her, and was off in an instant,—sooner than the man on the tree had recovered from his fright.
He was now alone in the wild mountains. What was he to do? He stood motionless as the tree at his side, as if senseless from a thunderbolt; he had no longer magic cap or magic mantle. “Oh, where shall I go?” groaned he, and walked around on the mountains. In his trouble and fright he picked up some pears and ate them. Then other terrible miseries came upon him, for he had barely eaten the pears when unheard of gigantic horns grew out of his head, so that he could not walk through the woods nor turn around; the horns stopped him everywhere; he could barely crawl forward.
With great care and much struggling, he dragged himself over a bit of road and came to a deep ravine, in which a hermit lived whose name was Wind.
“Oh, friend,” said the man, “help me from the mountain, and take me home.”
Said Wind, “I am not strong enough to bear thee to thy home, but go to my brother; he is the strongest of us. He will take thee home quickly.”
“I should like to go to him, but I cannot move.”
“He is not far from here,—there, on that side; but go as well as thou art able. He will rid thee of those horns.”
The man pushed through as best he could, and came, covered with sweat, to another cave, in which the eldest Wind brother was living. He fell on his knees before Wind, and cried imploringly: “Be so kind as to bear me home!”
“I should like to help thee, my friend; but it is not so easy as may seem to thee. I must go to the Lord to ask with what force Wind may blow. If Wind may blow so trees will be torn out with their roots, thou canst reach home; if Wind blows but weakly, thou wilt not go there, for ’tis far. Wait a while; I’ll come back soon.”
Wind went to ask the Lord how hard he might blow, and the Lord commanded him to blow mightily.