She wondered at
this and said, “No one has ever done so much before, but one task still
remains,” and she thought to herself, “Thou shalt not escape me, and
wilt not keep thy head on thy shoulders! This night,” said she, “I will
bring my daughter to thee in thy chamber, and thou shalt put thine arms
round her, but when you are sitting there together, beware of falling
asleep. When twelve o’clock is striking, I will come, and if she is
then no longer in thine arms, thou art lost.” The prince thought, “The
task is easy, I will most certainly keep my eyes open.” Nevertheless he
called his servants, told them what the old woman had said, and
remarked, “Who knows what treachery lurks behind this? Foresight is a
good thing keep watch, and take care that the maiden does not go out of
my room again.” When night fell, the old woman came with her daughter,
and gave her into the princes’s arms, and then the Tall One wound
himself round the two in a circle, and the Stout One placed himself by
the door, so that no living creature could enter. There the two sat,
and the maiden spake never a word, but the moon shone through the
window on her face, and the prince could behold her wondrous beauty. He
did nothing but gaze at her, and was filled with love and happiness,
and his eyes never felt weary. This lasted until eleven o’clock, when
the old woman cast such a spell over all of them that they fell asleep,
and at the self-same moment the maiden was carried away. Then they all slept soundly until a quarter to twelve, when the magic
lost its power, and all awoke again. “Oh, misery and misfortune!” cried
the prince, “now I am lost!” The faithful servants also began to
lament, but the Listener said, “Be quiet, I want to listen.” Then he
listened for an instant and said, “She is on a rock, three hundred
leagues from hence, bewailing her fate. Thou alone, Tall One, canst
help her; if thou wilt stand up, thou wilt be there in a couple of
steps.”

“Yes,” answered the Tall One, “but the one with the sharp eyes must go
with me, that we may destroy the rock.” Then the Tall One took the one
with bandaged eyes on his back, and in the twinkling of an eye they
were on the enchanted rock. The Tall One immediately took the bandage
from the other’s eyes, and he did but look round, and the rock shivered
into a thousand pieces. Then the Tall One took the maiden in his arms,
carried her back in a second, then fetched his companion with the same
rapidity, and before it struck twelve they were all sitting as they had
sat before, quite merrily and happily. When twelve struck, the aged
sorceress came stealing in with a malicious face, which seemed to say,
“Now he is mine!” for she believed that her daughter was on the rock
three hundred leagues off. But when she saw her in the prince’s arms,
she was alarmed, and said, “Here is one who knows more than I do!” She
dared not make any opposition, and was forced to give him her daughter. But she whispered in her ear, “It is a disgrace to thee to have to obey
common people, and that thou art not allowed to choose a husband to
thine own liking.”

On this the proud heart of the maiden was filled with anger, and she
meditated revenge. Next morning she caused three hundred great bundles
of wood to be got together, and said to the prince that though the
three tasks were performed, she would still not be his wife until some
one was ready to seat himself in the midst of the wood, and bear the
fire. She thought that none of his servants would let themselves be
burnt for him, and that out of love for her, he himself would place
himself upon it, and then she would be free. But the servants said,
“Every one of us has done something except the Frosty One, he must set
to work,” and they put him in the middle of the pile, and set fire to
it. Then the fire began to burn, and burnt for three days until all the
wood was consumed, and when the flames had burnt out, the Frosty One
was standing amid the ashes, trembling like an aspen leaf, and saying,
“I never felt such a frost during the whole course of my life; if it
had lasted much longer, I should have been benumbed!”

As no other pretext was to be found, the beautiful maiden was now
forced to take the unknown youth as a husband. But when they drove away
to church, the old woman said, “I cannot endure the disgrace,” and sent
her warriors after them with orders to cut down all who opposed them,
and bring back her daughter. But the Listener had sharpened his ears,
and heard the secret discourse of the old woman. “What shall we do?”
said he to the Stout One. But he knew what to do, and spat out once or
twice behind the carriage some of the sea-water which he had drunk, and
a great sea arose in which the warriors were caught and drowned. When
the sorceress perceived that, she sent her mailed knights; but the
Listener heard the rattling of their armour, and undid the bandage from
one eye of Sharp-eyes, who looked for a while rather fixedly at the
enemy’s troops, on which they all sprang to pieces like glass. Then the
youth and the maiden went on their way undisturbed, and when the two
had been blessed in church, the six servants took leave, and said to
their master, “Your wishes are now satisfied, you need us no longer, we
will go our way and seek our fortunes.”

Half a league from the palace of the prince’s father was a village near
which a swineherd tended his herd, and when they came thither the
prince said to his wife, “Do you know who I really am? I am no prince,
but a herder of swine, and the man who is there with that herd, is my
father. We two shall have to set to work also, and help him.” Then he
alighted with her at the inn, and secretly told the innkeepers to take
away her royal apparel during the night. So when she awoke in the
morning, she had nothing to put on, and the innkeeper’s wife gave her
an old gown and a pair of worsted stockings, and at the same time
seemed to consider it a great present, and said, “If it were not for
the sake of your husband I should have given you nothing at all!” Then
the princess believed that he really was a swineherd, and tended the
herd with him, and thought to herself, “I have deserved this for my
haughtiness and pride.” This lasted for a week, and then she could
endure it no longer, for she had sores on her feet. And now came a
couple of people who asked if she knew who her husband was. “Yes,” she
answered, “he is a swineherd, and has just gone out with cords and
ropes to try to drive a little bargain.” But they said, “Just come with
us, and we will take you to him,” and they took her up to the palace,
and when she entered the hall, there stood her husband in kingly
raiment. But she did not recognize him until he took her in his arms,
kissed her, and said, “I suffered much for thee and now thou, too, hast
had to suffer for me.” And then the wedding was celebrated, and he who
has told you all this, wishes that he, too, had been present at it.