Then the two brothers of Kiss Miklos—the king and the viceroy—entered; they embraced and kissed one another, and sacred was the peace. After that, Kiss Miklos and his wife returned to the domains of the Lead Friend, and after the death of the Green King, Kiss Miklos inherited his dominions. And so he ruled two kingdoms very happily; and he and the Green Daughter of the Green King are living yet, if they are not dead.
THE HEDGEHOG, THE MERCHANT, THE KING, AND THE POOR MAN.
WHERE there was, where there was not, it is enough that there was once a merchant, there were also a king, and a poor man.
One day the merchant went out to hunt, and he travelled and journeyed till, oh! my lord’s son, he found himself in such a thick forest that he saw neither the sky nor the earth; he just groped around like a blindman. Here, ’pon my soul! whether the merchant tried to free himself by turning to the left or the right, he only went into a thicker place. When he was there five days, in hunger and thirst, stumbling about in the great wild wood without liberation, the merchant called out:—
“Oh, my God, if any one would take me out of this great wild thicket to the right road, I would give him the best of my three daughters, and as a wedding gift three sacks of coin.”
“I’ll lead thee out right away,” said some one before him.
The merchant looked to the right, to the left, but not a soul did he see.
“Don’t look around,” said the certain one again, “look under thy feet.”