"At what price?" asked the Princess.
"By dismounting from your horse and sitting by me on the grass for a quarter of an hour."
The Princess made some objections, but as there was no other means of obtaining the hare, she descended to the ground, and seated herself by the young shepherd.
"THE PRINCESS SEATED HERSELF BY THE YOUNG SHEPHERD."
The hundred hares leaped and bounded around him.
At the end of a quarter of an hour, during which the young shepherd said a hundred tender things to her, she rose and claimed her hare, which the shepherd, faithful to his promise, gave her.
The Princess joyfully shut it in a basket which she carried at the bow of her saddle, and rode back towards the palace.
But hardly had she ridden a quarter of a league, when the young shepherd placed his whistle to his lips and blew into it; and, at this imperative call, the hare forced up the lid of the basket, sprang to the ground, and made off as fast as his legs would carry him.
A moment afterwards, the shepherd saw a peasant coming towards him, mounted on a donkey. It was the old King, also disguised, who had quitted the palace with the same intention as his daughter.