Now when the king heard of the trickery and treachery the two strange princes had used, he grew very angry and had them driven ignominously forth from the castle. But he received the brave youth with great honor, as he had deserved, and he was married to the king's youngest daughter that selfsame day. After the king's death the youth was chosen king of all the land, and a gallant king he was. And there he lives with his beautiful queen, and is reigning there happily to this very day. And that is all I have to do with it.
NOTE
"The Three Dogs" (Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, p. 195. From West Gotland). Fairy tales have a high opinion of the power of music, for the magic of the flute-playing breaks the evil spell of the troll, just as in the story of "Faithful and Unfaithful," the sound of the fiddle makes the troll's golden hall come out of the mountain.
XXI
THE POOR DEVIL
Once upon a time there was a peasant, who led his cow to pasture in the spring, and prayed God to have her in His care.
The evil one was sitting in a bush, heard him, and said to himself: "When things turn out well, they thank God for it; but if anything goes wrong, then I am always to blame!"
A few days later the cow strayed into a swamp. And when the peasant came and saw her he said: "Look at that! The devil has had his finger in the pie again!"
"Just what I might have expected," thought the devil in his bush. Then the peasant went off to fetch people to help drag the cow out. But in the meantime the devil slipped from his bush and helped out the cow, for he thought: