The King then summoned his daughters,
and asked them if the soldier had told the truth, and when they saw
that they were betrayed, and that falsehood would be of no avail, they
were obliged to confess all. Thereupon the King asked which of them he
would have to wife? He answered, "I am no longer young, so give me the
eldest." Then the wedding was celebrated on the self-same day, and the
kingdom was promised him after the King's death. But the princes were
bewitched for as many days as they had danced nights with the twelve.
134 The Six Servants
IN former times there lived an aged Queen who was a sorceress, and her
daughter was the most beautiful maiden under the sun. The old woman,
however, had no other thought than how to lure mankind to destruction,
and when a wooer appeared, she said that whosoever wished to have her
daughter, must first perform a task, or die. Many had been dazzled by
the daughter's beauty, and had actually risked this, but they never could
accomplish what the old woman enjoined them to do, and then no mercy was
shown; they had to kneel down, and their heads were struck off.
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