With this the fox ran off into the forest!
"Ah!" thought the young Prince, "that is a wonderful animal with very whimsical ideas! Who would buy gallows'-flesh, and when have I ever had the slightest desire to sit on the brink of a well?"
So he rode on with the beautiful maiden, and his path led [page 324] him once more through the village in which his two brothers had stopped. Here there was great tumult and lamentation, and when he asked what it all meant, he was told that two men were going to be hanged. When he came nearer, he saw that they were his two brothers, who had committed every kind of wicked folly and had squandered all their money. Then the young Prince asked if they could not be freed.
"Supposing you do pay for them," the people answered, "where is the good of wasting your money in order to free such villains?"
Nevertheless, he did not hesitate, but paid for them, and when the brothers were freed they all rode away together. They came to the forest where they first encountered the fox, and as it was cool and pleasant away from the burning sun, the two brothers said:
"Let us sit and rest a little by this well, and eat and drink something."
The young Prince consented, and while they were all talking together he quite forgot the fox's warning, and suspected no evil.
But suddenly the two brothers threw him backwards into the well, and, seizing the maiden, the horse, and the golden bird, they went home to their father.
"We not only bring you the golden bird," said they, "but we have also found the golden palace."
There was great rejoicing, but the horse would not eat, neither would the bird sing, and the maiden only sat and wept.