The King was very well pleased, the young man had nothing against it, so the bargain was concluded and the marriage celebrated according to form and custom.
One evening, as the youth stood at the window with his wife, he noticed in the distance a large mountain which was all a light blaze. He asked his wife what was the cause of this, and she answered, “Oh, sir, do not ask me! That is a magic mountain that spits lightnings by day and at night stands wreathed in flames, and whoever goes there to see what is the matter is instantly struck dumb and remains enchanted on the spot.”
He paid no heed to her words, but mounted his horse, girded on his sword, called his dog, and rode to the mountain. When he reached it he met an old woman perched on a rock, holding in one hand a staff and in the other a little weed. As soon as he saw her he asked her why the mountain had these peculiarities, and she told him to ride along and he would soon find out.
He did so, and the old woman conducted him to a court hedged in with the bones of heroes, and around in the court were countless men standing stark and stiff, all enchanted. He had hardly stepped into this court when he, too, as also his horse and his dog, grew rigid and changed to stone on the spot where they stood.
At the same moment the water in the brother’s bottle at home grew dark, and the brother announced to the father and mother that his brother, their son, was dead and that he must go abroad and seek him.
So he travelled from place to place and from city to city, until luck took him to that very town and to the King’s palace. At sight of him the King rushed to his daughter with the good news, “Your husband has returned!”
She ran down to meet him, and thought he was her husband, for the two brothers were as much alike as the two halves of a cut apple. She thought it was the same horse, the same dog, and the same sword; and father and daughter rushed joyfully to meet him. They kissed and caressed him, the King thinking that it was his son-in-law, the daughter thinking that it was her husband.
The youth was at first quite bewildered by these signs of affection, but it occurred to him that they were for his brother, and so he feigned to be her husband and the King’s son-in-law.
When night came they retired, but he laid his drawn sword in the bed between them. The woman wondered at this, but he said he could not sleep, and arose and went to the window. At sight of the magic mountain he said, “Tell me, my dear little wife, why is that mountain in flames?”
“For Heaven’s sake,” answered she, “did I not tell you that other evening of the peculiarities of that mountain?”