"And is this the measure of your stupidity?" he said, "but then what is a fellow of your sort to do with his stupidity, if he does not put it to some use?"—and then he laughed again. "Yes, there you hang, and here I am carting off all the shoes I wore out going about on your silly errands. I wonder, sometimes, whether you can actually read what is written on that scrap of paper, and whether you recognize it," said he, laughing again, indulging in all sorts of horse-play, and waving the scrap of paper under the duke's nose.
But all who are hanging on the gallows are not dead, and this time Lasse was the greater fool of the two.
The duke snatched—and tore the scrap of paper from his hand!
"Lasse, my thrall!"
"What does my master command?"
"Cut me down from the gallows at once, and restore the castle and everything else just as it was before, then when it is dark, bring the princess back to it."
Everything was attended to with alarming rapidity, and soon all was exactly as it had been before Lasse had decamped.
When the king awoke the following morning, he looked out of the window as usual, and there the castle was standing as before, with its weathercocks gleaming handsomely in the sunlight. He sent for his courtiers, and they came in bowing and scraping.
"Do you see the castle over yonder?" asked the king.
They stretched their necks, and gazed and stared. Yes, indeed, they could see the castle.