“Return them to me at once!” said Babadag.
I could hear the ballad singers chuckling together again. “We would, we would,” said one of them, “we meant to, but—”
“But what, beast?”
“She has them,” said one of the three.
“The most wonderful of women,” said another.
“She who swore she would marry one of us,” said the third.
The Prince’s Daughter Has Beguiled the Shears of Sharpness from the Ballad Singers
My daughter! My own daughter! She had beguiled the Shears from these foolish vagabonds! Or had they let her have the Shears for some purpose of their own—to help their brother, say? I was quite bewildered.
“Oh, that I should let such scoundrels live!” said Babadag, fiercely. “Where is this woman?”
“But she wouldn’t marry us unless we gave her the Shears,” said one of the ballad singers. “No harm in that!”