“When I am afraid, I will ring the bell.”
When he has gone only a little way he is frightened, and rings. They pull him up. The second goes; and when he has gone a little farther down he is frightened, and rings. Malbrouk then gets in, and he says to them:
“When I shall give a pull at the bucket from below, then you will pull it up.”
He goes down, then, and at last he sees that there is a beautiful house underground, and he sees there a beautiful young lady, who is sitting with a serpent asleep in her lap. When she sees Malbrouk, she says to him:
“Be off, I pray you, from here; he has only three-quarters of an hour to sleep, and if he wakes, it is all over with you and me.”
He says to her, “No matter; lay the head of the serpent on the ground, gently, gently, without waking him.”
She lays it there, and he carries off this young lady in the bucket, after having pulled the cord. He goes into another chamber, and he sees another young lady, still more beautiful, with the head of a lion asleep on her lap. She also says to him:
“Be off quickly from here. He has only half-an-hour to sleep, and if he wakes, it is all up with you and me.”
Malbrouk says to her, “Place gently, gently, without waking him, the head of the lion on the ground.”
She does so. Malbrouk takes her, gets into the bucket with her, and his brothers pull them both up. They write at once to the king to come and fetch them, that they have found two of his daughters. As you may suppose, the king sends a carriage directly to fetch them, and he makes great rejoicings. The king tells him to choose whichever of the two he likes for his wife. Malbrouk says to him: