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and stone till their hair whistled again.

As they came to the castle, all was as the fox had said, and at twelve
o'clock the young man met the princes going to the bath and gave her
the kiss, and she agreed to run away with him, but begged with many
tears that he would let her take leave of her father. At first he
refused, but she wept still more and more, and fell at his feet, till
at last he consented; but the moment she came to her father's house
the guards awoke and he was taken prisoner again.

Then he was brought before the king, and the king said, 'You shall
never have my daughter unless in eight days you dig away the hill that
stops the view from my window.' Now this hill was so big that the
whole world could not take it away: and when he had worked for seven
days, and had done very little, the fox came and said. 'Lie down and
go to sleep; I will work for you.' And in the morning he awoke and the
hill was gone; so he went merrily to the king, and told him that now
that it was removed he must give him the princess.

Then the king was obliged to keep his word, and away went the young
man and the princess; and the fox came and said to him, 'We will have
all three, the princess, the horse, and the bird.' 'Ah!' said the
young man, 'that would be a great thing, but how can you contrive it?'

'If you will only listen,' said the fox, 'it can be done. When you
come to the king, and he asks for the beautiful princess, you must
say, "Here she is!" Then he will be very joyful; and you will mount
the golden horse that they are to give you, and put out your hand to
take leave of them; but shake hands with the princess last. Then lift
her quickly on to the horse behind you; clap your spurs to his side,
and gallop away as fast as you can.'

All went right: then the fox said, 'When you come to the castle where
the bird is, I will stay with the princess at the door, and you will
ride in and speak to the king; and when he sees that it is the right
horse, he will bring out the bird; but you must sit still, and say
that you want to look at it, to see whether it is the true golden
bird; and when you get it into your hand, ride away.'

This, too, happened as the fox said; they carried off the bird, the
princess mounted again, and they rode on to a great wood. Then the fox
came, and said, 'Pray kill me, and cut off my head and my feet.' But
the young man refused to do it: so the fox said, 'I will at any rate
give you good counsel: beware of two things; ransom no one from the
gallows, and sit down by the side of no river.' Then away he went.
'Well,' thought the young man, 'it is no hard matter to keep that
advice.'

He rode on with the princess, till at last he came to the village
where he had left his two brothers. And there he heard a great noise
and uproar; and when he asked what was the matter, the people said,
'Two men are going to be hanged.' As he came nearer, he saw that the
two men were his brothers, who had turned robbers; so he said, 'Cannot

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