“Ha! ha!” roared the demon, “my fine caballero, you’ll find you will have to do with me at last!”
“And who are you?” shouted the baffled knight, “and what is this beautiful princess to you?”
“I am bound to answer the knight who asks that question,” answered the demon, “or it is little you would have learnt from me. Know, then, that this princess was the only daughter of King Euríc, to whom belonged all the country as far as eye can see; and she would have succeeded to his kingdom, but her temper was so violent, no one could bear with her. Upon the least contradiction she would order a subject to be executed; and her arbitrary conduct was continually involving the kingdom in discontent and trouble. Her father, who tenderly loved her, used to coax her and use every endeavour to soften her, but with no avail. At last, one day she provoked him so sore that in his anger he exclaimed, ‘Go to the horned one!’ When I heard myself called, I hastened to seize her, but, notwithstanding all my speed, before I could arrive he had revoked the curse, and so I was tricked out of her. This happened several times, but each time fatherly fondness was quicker than my utmost haste. At last, a day came when she excited him greatly, and he said again, ‘Go to the horned one!’ and before he could recall the words that time, he had fallen down a lifeless corpse. So now she is mine, and mine she must remain till some knight will win her in arms from me, and marry her, and restore her to her castle and her kingdom.”
“That will I!” said the knight stoutly; for though he feared the lady’s violent temper after what he had heard, his devotion to chivalry bound him to use his best endeavours to deliver her.
Accordingly he drew his sword, and called to the demon to come on. “Remember one thing,” said the demon, “if you should win her, she is yours for ever; I take her back no more.”
Meantime, Listeno, at the top of the well, had been reporting to his companions all that he heard going on below, and their curiosity getting the better of their fears, they let themselves down by the rope, and all four arrived in time to witness the terrible contest.
Never was such a fight seen in this world as that between this knight and the demon; and at last the knight cut off the demon’s ear. No tongue could describe the demon’s rage at finding his ear in possession of a mortal.
“Give me my ear!” he cried in tones so sharp that they almost stunned Listeno’s sensitive hearing powers.
“Never,” replied the knight, “or at least not without a heavy ransom. In the first place I exact that without further ado you reinstate the Princess in her castle and all her power.” The demon stamped and raged, but the knight was firm. The demon was ashamed to go home without his ear, so he thought it best to comply.
The Princess was restored to her throne, the castle was restored to its strength, the garrison was restored to the ramparts, the servants were restored to the halls. The knight married the princess; great rejoicings and festivities were celebrated, and to his four followers were given places of trust and consequence in the palace.