“It is well. I shall carry out my promise and give you one of my daughters for your wife, but all three shall be veiled and you must pick the one you desire without seeing her face.”
The three damsels were then brought into his presence, but the lad easily recognized the one who had assisted him, because she lacked the small toe of the left foot. So he chose her without hesitation, and they were married.
But the gentleman was not content with the marriage. On the day of the bridal he placed the bed of the young folks over a vault, and hung it from the roof by four cords. When they had gone to bed he came to the door of the chamber and said:
“Son-in-law, are you asleep?”
“No, not yet,” replied the youth.
Some time afterward he repeated his question, and met with a similar answer.
“The next time he comes,” said the bride, “pretend that you are sleeping.”
Shortly after that his father-in-law asked once more if he were asleep, and receiving no answer retired, evidently well satisfied.
When he had gone the bride made her husband rise at once. “Go instantly to the stables,” said she, “and take there the horse which is called Little Wind, mount him, and fly.”
The young fellow hastened to comply with her request, and he had scarcely left the chamber when the master 94 of the castle returned and asked if his daughter were asleep. She answered “No,” and, bidding her arise and come with him, he cut the cords, so that the bed fell into the vault beneath. The bride now heard the trampling of hoofs in the garden outside, and rushed out to find her husband in the act of mounting.