“When the devil asks you how quick he is to take you, if he says: ‘As quickly as the wind blows?’ say ‘No’; and if he says, ‘As quickly as the step goes?’ say ‘No’ again. But if he says, ‘As quickly as the air goes?’ say ‘Even so.’ If your cap falls, do not look after it, and don’t tell the devil about it, or he will let you fall and won’t carry you to the palace. When you are seven miles from the palace you will see it, and the devil will ask you if you see it; but shut your eyes tight and say that you can’t see it. When you are three miles from it, you will see it quite plainly, and he will ask you again whether you see it. But you must shut your eyes tight and say that you can’t see it. Then you will be above the palace roof, and he will ask you again whether you see it. You must say again that you can’t see it, or he will let you drop on the roof and you won’t be able to get down.”
The devil took the man and flew with him as the air goes. When they were seven miles from the palace, the devil asked: “Do you see the palace now? It is quite plain to see now.”
The lad shut his eyes tight and said that he couldn’t see it. So they flew on, and when they were three miles from the castle the devil asked him did he see it now. He shut his eyes tight and said that he couldn’t see it. When they were right over the roof, the devil asked: “Surely you must see it now; we are just over the roof.”
But he shut his eyes tight and said: “I don’t see it.”
The devil said angrily: “You must be blind if you can’t see it; we are just above the roof.” And he seized him in anger, and set him on the golden table in that royal castle.
The three princesses were sitting at the table, knitting with golden thread. His own wife was the middle one, and she knew him at once. She sprang up right gladly and welcomed him with joy. She nearly fainted, she was so pleased that he had been able to come so many miles in such a short time.
“Welcome, dear husband, welcome! Welcome, our deliverer! You will save us from the enchantment under which we are in this castle.”
The time passed very slowly there. So one day his wife brought him the keys and showed him through all the rooms and closets, letting him see everything except one room, which she would not open for him.
The three princesses had to take the shape of doves for two hours in the morning and three hours before the evening, and they had to go to the Red Sea to bathe there. One day when they had gone out to bathe he thought: “Why don’t you want to open that room for me?” So he went and searched among the other keys for the key, and opened the room for himself.
In the room he saw a three-headed dragon, and each of its heads was stuck upon a hook so that it hung down from it. Under the dragon were placed three glasses of water. The lad was terrified and started to run away. But the dragon kept on calling out: “Don’t be frightened, don’t run away, but come back again and give me that glass of water. Your life shall be spared this once.”