On hearing this the Falcon King began to advise him to go no farther. ‘It is no use going on,’ said he. ‘I will tell you something of True Steel. The day he stole your wife, I assaulted him with four thousand falcons. We had a terrible battle with him, blood was shed till it reached the knees, but yet we could do him no harm! Do you think now, that you alone could do anything with him? I advise you to return home. Here is my treasure: take with you as much as you like.’ But the king’s son answered, ‘I thank you for all your kindness, but I cannot return. I shall go at all events in search of True Steel!’ For he thought to himself, ‘Why should I not go, seeing I have three lives?’ When the Falcon King saw that he could not persuade him to go back, he took a little feather and gave it him, saying, ‘Take this feather, and when you find yourself in great need, burn it and I will instantly come with all my powers to help you!’ So the king’s son took the feather and continued his journey, hoping to find True Steel.
After travelling for a long time about the world he came to a third city. As he entered, a girl called to him from a kiosk, ‘Dismount, and come into the courtyard.’ The king’s son went into the yard, and was surprised to find his youngest sister, who came to meet him. When they had embraced and kissed each other, the sister led her brother to the kiosk and sent his horse to the stables. The brother asked her, ‘Dear sister, whom have you married? What is your husband?’ She answered, ‘My husband is the King of Eagles.’ When the Eagle King returned home in the evening his wife received him, but he exclaimed immediately, ‘What man has come into my palace? Tell me the truth instantly!’ She answered, ‘No one is here;’ and they began their supper. By-and-by the wife said, ‘Tell me truly: would you do any harm to my brothers if they came here?’ The Eagle King answered, ‘The eldest and second brother I would kill, but to the youngest I would do no harm! I would help him whenever I could!’ Then the wife said, ‘My youngest brother, and your brother-in-law, is here; he came to see me.’ The Eagle King ordered that they should bring the prince instantly, received him standing, kissed him, and said, ‘Welcome, brother-in-law!’ and the king’s son answered, ‘I hope you are well?’ They then sat down to their supper. During the repast they conversed about many things, and at last the prince told the king he was travelling in search of True Steel. When the Eagle King heard that, he tried to dissuade him from going on, adding, ‘Leave the devil in peace, my brother-in-law; give up that journey and stay with me! I will do everything to satisfy you!’ The king’s son however, would not hear of remaining, but next day, as soon as it dawned, prepared to set out in search of True Steel. Then the Eagle King, seeing that he could not persuade him to give up his journey, plucked out one of his feathers and gave it him, saying, ‘If you find yourself in great danger, my brother, make a fire and burn this feather; I will then come to your help immediately with all my eagles.’ So the prince took the feather and went away.
After travelling for a very long time about the world, roaming from one city to another, and always going farther and farther from his home, he found his wife in a cavern.
When the wife saw him she was greatly astonished, and cried, ‘In God’s name, my husband, how did you come here?’ He told her how it all happened, and then added, ‘Now let us fly!’ ‘How can we fly,’ she asked, ‘when True Steel will reach us instantly? and when he does he will kill you, and carry me back.’ But the prince, knowing he had three other lives to live, persuaded his wife to flee, and so they did. As soon, however, as they started, True Steel heard it, and followed immediately. When he reached them, he shouted to the king’s son, ‘So, prince, you have stolen your wife!’ Then, after taking the wife back, he added, ‘Now, I forgive you this life, because I recollect that I promised to give you three lives; but go away directly, and never come here again after your wife, else you will be lost!’ Thus saying, he carried the wife away, and the prince remained alone on the spot, not knowing what to do.
At length the prince resolved to go back to his wife. When he came near the cave he found an opportunity when True Steel was absent, and took his wife again and tried to escape with her.
But True Steel learned their flight directly, and ran after them. When he reached them, he fixed an arrow to his bow, and cried to the king’s son, ‘Do you prefer to die by the arrow or by the sword?’ The king’s son asked pardon, and True Steel said, ‘I pardon you also the second life; but I warn you! never come here again after your wife, for I will not pardon you any more! I shall kill you on the spot!’ Saying that, he carried the wife back to the cave, and the prince remained thinking all the time how he could save her.
At last he said to himself, ‘Why should I fear True Steel, when I have yet two lives? One of which he has made me a present, and one which is my own?’ So he decided to return again to the cave next morning, when True Steel was absent. He saw his wife, and said to her, ‘Let us fly!’ She objected, saying, ‘It is of no use to fly, when True Steel would certainly overtake us.’ However, her husband forced her to go with him, and they went away. True Steel, however, overtook them quickly, and shouted, ‘Wait a bit! This time I will not pardon you!’ The prince became afraid, and begged him to pardon him also this time, and True Steel said to him, ‘You know I promised to give you three lives, so now I give you this one, but it is the third and last. Now you have only one life, so go home, and do not risk losing the one life God gave you!’
Then the prince, seeing he could do nothing against this great power, turned back, reflecting, however, all the time, as to the best way of getting his wife back from True Steel.
At last, he remembered what his brothers-in-law had said to him when they gave him their feathers. Then he said to himself, ‘I will try this fourth time to get my wife back; if I come to trouble, I will burn the feathers, and see if my brothers-in-law will come to help me.’
Hereupon he went back once more towards the cavern wherein his wife was kept, and, as he saw from a distance that True Steel was just leaving the cave, he went near and showed himself to his wife. She was surprised and terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Are you so tired of your life that you come back again to me?’ Then he told her about his brothers-in-law, and how each of them had given him one of their feathers, and had promised to come to help him whenever he needed their assistance. ‘Therefore,’ added he, ‘I am come once more to take you away; let us start at once.’