Then she looked behind her, knew the bear, and bade him go
into her room with her, and said, “Dear Bear, what dost thou want?” He
answered, “My master, who killed the dragon, is here, and I am to ask
for some confectionery, such as the King eats.” Then she summoned her
confectioner, who had to bake confectionery such as the King ate, and
carry it to the door for the bear; then the bear first licked up the
comfits which had rolled down, and then he stood upright, took the
dish, and carried it to his master. “Behold, sir host,” said the
huntsman, “now I have bread, meat, vegetables and confectionery, but I
will drink wine also, and such as the King drinks.” He called his lion
to him and said, “Dear Lion, thou thyself likest to drink till thou art
intoxicated, go and fetch me some wine, such as is drunk by the King.”
Then the lion strode through the streets, and the people fled from him,
and when he came to the watch, they wanted to bar the way against him,
but he did but roar once, and they all ran away. Then the lion went to
the royal apartment, and knocked at the door with his tail. Then the
King’s daughter came forth, and was almost afraid of the lion, but she
knew him by the golden clasp of her necklace, and bade him go with her
into her chamber, and said, “Dear Lion, what wilt thou have?” He
answered, “My master, who killed the dragon, is here, and I am to ask
for some wine such as is drunk by the King.” Then she bade the
cup-bearer be called, who was to give the lion some wine like that
which was drunk by the King. The lion said, “I will go with him, and
see that I get the right wine.” Then he went down with the cup-bearer,
and when they were below, the cup-bearer wanted to draw him some of the
common wine that was drunk by the King’s servants, but the lion said,
“Stop, I will taste the wine first,” and he drew half a measure, and
swallowed it down at one draught. “No,” said he, “that is not right.”
The cup-bearer looked at him askance, but went on, and was about to
give him some out of another barrel which was for the King’s marshal. The lion said, “Stop, let me taste the wine first,” and drew half a
measure and drank it. “That is better, but still not right,” said he. Then the cup-bearer grew angry and said, “How can a stupid animal like
you understand wine?” But the lion gave him a blow behind the ears,
which made him fall down by no means gently, and when he had got up
again, he conducted the lion quite silently into a little cellar apart,
where the King’s wine lay, from which no one ever drank. The lion first
drew half a measure and tried the wine, and then he said, That may
possibly be the right sort, and bade the cup-bearer fill six bottles of
it. And now they went upstairs again, but when the lion came out of the
cellar into the open air, he reeled here and there, and was rather
drunk, and the cup-bearer was forced to carry the wine as far as the
door for him, and then the lion took the handle of the basket in his
mouth, and took it to his master. The huntsman said, “Behold, sir host,
here have I bread, meat, vegetables, confectionery and wine such as the
King has, and now I will dine with my animals,” and he sat down and ate
and drank, and gave the hare, the fox, the wolf, the bear, and the lion
also to eat and to drink, and was joyful, for he saw that the King’s
daughter still loved him. And when he had finished his dinner, he said,
“Sir host, now have I eaten and drunk, as the King eats and drinks, and
now I will go to the King’s court and marry the King’s daughter.” Said
the host, “How can that be, when she already has a betrothed husband,
and when the wedding is to be solemnized to-day?” Then the huntsman
drew forth the handkerchief which the King’s daughter had given him on
the dragon’s hill, and in which were folded the monster’s seven
tongues, and said, “That which I hold in my hand shall help me to do
it.” Then the innkeeper looked at the handkerchief, and said, “Whatever
I believe, I do not believe that, and I am willing to stake my house
and courtyard on it.” The huntsman, however, took a bag with a thousand
gold pieces, put it on the table, and said, “I stake that on it.”

Now the King said to his daughter, at the royal table, “What did all
the wild animals want, which have been coming to thee, and going in and
out of my palace?” She replied, “I may not tell you, but send and have
the master of these animals brought, and you will do well.” The King
sent a servant to the inn, and invited the stranger, and the servant
came just as the huntsman had laid his wager with the innkeeper. Then
said he, “Behold, sir host, now the King sends his servant and invites
me, but I do not go in this way.” And he said to the servant, “I
request the Lord King to send me royal clothing, and a carriage with
six horses, and servants to attend me.” When the King heard the answer,
he said to his daughter, “What shall I do?” She said, “Cause him to be
fetched as he desires to be, and you will do well.” Then the King sent
royal apparel, a carriage with six horses, and servants to wait on him. When the huntsman saw them coming, he said, “Behold, sir host, now I am
fetched as I desired to be,” and he put on the royal garments, took the
handkerchief with the dragon’s tongues with him, and drove off to the
King. When the King saw him coming, he said to his daughter, “How shall
I receive him?” She answered, “Go to meet him and you will do well.”
Then the King went to meet him and led him in, and his animals
followed. The King gave him a seat near himself and his daughter, and
the marshal, as bridegroom, sat on the other side, but no longer knew
the huntsman. And now at this very moment, the seven heads of the
dragon were brought in as a spectacle, and the King said, “The seven
heads were cut off the dragon by the marshal, wherefore to-day I give
him my daughter to wife.” The the huntsman stood up, opened the seven
mouths, and said, “Where are the seven tongues of the dragon?” Then was
the marshal terrified, and grew pale and knew not what answer he should
make, and at length in his anguish he said, “Dragons have no tongues.”
The huntsman said, “Liars ought to have none, but the dragon’s tongues
are the tokens of the victor,” and he unfolded the handkerchief, and
there lay all seven inside it. And he put each tongue in the mouth to
which it belonged, and it fitted exactly. Then he took the handkerchief
on which the name of the princess was embroidered, and showed it to the
maiden, and asked to whom she had given it, and she replied, “To him
who killed the dragon.” And then he called his animals, and took the
collar off each of them and the golden clasp from the lion, and showed
them to the maiden and asked to whom they belonged. She answered, “The
necklace and golden clasp were mine, but I divided them among the
animals who helped to conquer the dragon.” Then spake the huntsman,
“When I, tired with the fight, was resting and sleeping, the marshal
came and cut off my head.