“They will be back tomorrow, most likely, with reinforcements,” said the soldier, and he strengthened his barricades and reloaded the guns he had discharged.
It happened as he expected. At dawn the next day the robbers again returned with a dozen others whom they had summoned to their aid. They yelled, and fired their guns, and threw stones, and pounded the door with heavy clubs. All the time the soldier was shooting from his window, and in the end every robber was killed. The soldier was now in complete possession of the castle and all the treasures it contained. He explored it from top to bottom, and concluded to make it his home. In the days that followed he often went forth into the forest to hunt, and the castle and the life he led suited him very well. Thus things went on until one day, when he was out with his gun, he took aim to shoot a fine rabbit. Greatly to his surprise the rabbit spoke, saying: “Do not kill me. I may perhaps be useful to you.”
“Very well,” said the soldier, “I will not harm you, and you can come with me and be my servant.”
He went on followed by the rabbit, and in a little while he saw a bear. He took careful aim and was about to shoot, when the bear said, “Do not kill me, and I will make myself useful to you.”
“All right,” was the soldier’s response. “Follow me, and we will see in what way you can serve me.”
The soldier at length returned to the castle, and the rabbit and bear went with him. That evening, as they were in the great hall enjoying the heat of the fire in the fireplace, the bear said: “I heard this morning that the daughter of the king is about to be taken to a dragon which will devour her. Would it not be well for us to go and deliver her?”
“That would be a very perilous undertaking,” said the soldier.
“Pshaw!” exclaimed the bear, “it is not as dangerous as you think. I am ready to do my part.”
“Yes,” said the rabbit, “and I will do my part. All three of us ought to be more than a match for one dragon.”
“Let us go then,” said the soldier.