The little man then told him exactly how he was to proceed and act, and Barney listened till he had made an end of all he had to say, and then pouff! he vanished, and Barney saw him no more.
He now turned his face away from the fair and toward where the palace lay, and off he set, one foot before the other, as fast as he could go.
After a long journey he came to the place he wished to go, and a very grand fine palace it was when he reached it. But in front of it there was a strange sight, and one that Barney had no liking for; for there in front of the door were twelve tall stakes, and upon eleven of these stakes were eleven heads, but upon the twelfth stake there was no head.
However, Barney did not stay there long looking at it, for he had other business on hand than that.
He marched up to the palace door and rapped upon it loudly with his stick. In a moment it opened and there stood a man, all in gold lace, looking out at him. “What do you want here?” he asked.
“I have come to see the princess and to make her laugh,” answered Barney as bold as brass.
“You have a hard task before you,” said the man. “However, I am not the one to say you nay, and I will go and tell the king you are here.”
He went away and then presently he came back again and the king was with him.
The king looked Barney up and down and then he said, “You are a fine stout lad, but I misdoubt me you are not the one to make the princess laugh. However, you may try it if you like, but first you must know the conditions. You must make her laugh three times before you can have her for a wife, and if you fail your head will be cut off and set upon a stake, for so the princess has made me promise it shall be.” The king further told him that eleven stout lads had already lost their heads,—“and there they are to prove it,” he said, and he pointed to the stakes before the palace door.
Barney looked, and saw again that the twelfth had nothing on it, and he liked the looks of it even less than before, for it seemed to him it would fit his head exactly.