When they reached the palace, none dared to hinder them from entering, because of the animals, and the three went on through one room after another till they came to where the King was, and his daughter and the nobleman were with him.
The nobleman was very merry, for the wedding feast was even then preparing, and that night he was to be married to the lovely Princess. The King, too, was happy, for he was pleased at the thought of having such a brave hero for a son-in-law. Only the Princess was sad and would do nothing but weep and bemoan herself, but she could not tell her father the cause of her grief because of the oath she had sworn to the nobleman.
Now when the Prince and his two brothers entered the room where the King was sitting, the Princess gave a shriek of joy, but the nobleman turned pale and trembled, for he knew the Prince at once as the true hero who had saved the Princess from the dragon, and whom he and his companion had slain by the roadside.
Then the Prince began and told the King the whole story, and as the King listened, he wondered. When the Prince had made an end of the tale, the King turned to the nobleman. “And what answer have you to make to all this?” he asked him.
“That it is false and doubly false,” cried the nobleman. “’Tis I and I alone who saved the Princess.”
Then the Prince asked him what proof he had of the truth of his story, and when the nobleman could give no proof, the lad drew out a handkerchief and opened it, and there were the ears and the tongue of the dragon. He also showed the half of the handkerchief and the half of the ring the Princess had given him, and then it was clear to every one that it was he and he alone who had slain the dragon.
Then the nobleman was punished as he deserved, but the Prince was married to the Princess, and his two brothers were married to the King’s two younger daughters, and they all lived together in great joy and happiness forever.
GRACIOSA AND PERCINET
A French Story
There was once a King who was so rich that it would have been impossible for him to spend all his money, and yet his greatest wish was still to keep adding to his treasure.
The King’s wife had died and left him but one child, a daughter named Graciosa. This Princess was so beautiful, so kind and so gentle that she was beloved by all about her. The King also loved her dearly,—more dearly indeed than anything in the world except his treasure, but that was always first in his thoughts and his affections.