" Then he went to the King, and asked for a ship for himself
and his brothers, and sailed with them over the sea until they came to
the rock. There the King's daughter was sitting, and the dragon was lying
asleep on her lap. The huntsman said, "I dare not fire, I should kill
the beautiful maiden at the same time." "Then I will try my art," said
the thief, and he crept thither and stole her away from under the dragon,
so quietly and dexterously, that the monster never remarked it, but went
on snoring. Full of joy, they hurried off with her on board ship, and
steered out into the open sea; but the dragon, who when he awoke had found
no princess there, followed them, and came snorting angrily through the
air. Just as he was circling above the ship, and about to descend on it,
the huntsman shouldered his gun, and shot him to the heart. The monster
fell down dead, but was so large and powerful that his fall shattered the
whole ship. Fortunately, however, they laid hold of a couple of planks,
and swam about the wide sea. Then again they were in great peril, but
the tailor, who was not idle, took his wondrous needle, and with a few
stitches sewed the planks together, and they seated themselves upon them,
and collected together all the fragments of the vessel.
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