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.” Then 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 spoke the huntsman: “When I, tired of the fight, was resting and sleeping, the marshal came and cut off my head. Then he carried away the King’s daughter, and gave out that it was he who had killed the dragon, but that he lied I prove with the tongues, the handkerchief, and the necklace.”
And then he related how his animals had healed him by means of a wonderful root, and how he had traveled about with them for one year, and had at length again come there and had learnt the treachery of the marshal by the inn-keeper’s story. Then the King asked his daughter: “Is it true that this man killed the dragon?” And she answered: “Yes, it is true. Now can I reveal the wicked deed of the marshal, as it has come to light without my connivance, for he wrung from me a promise to be silent. For this reason, however, did I make the condition that the marriage should not be solemnized for a year and a day.” Then the King bade twelve councillors be summoned who were to pronounce judgment on the marshal, and they sentenced him to be torn to pieces by four bulls. The marshal was therefore executed, but the King gave his daughter to the huntsman, and named him his viceroy over the whole kingdom. The wedding was celebrated with great joy, and the young King caused his father and his foster-father to be brought, and loaded them with treasures. Neither did he forget the innkeeper, but sent for him and said: “Behold, sir host, I have married the King’s daughter, and your house and yard are mine.” The host said: “Yes, according to justice it is so.” But the young King said: “It shall be done according to mercy,” and told him that he should keep his house and yard, and gave him the thousand pieces of gold as well.
And now the young King and Queen were thoroughly happy, and lived in gladness together. He often went out hunting because it was a delight to him, and the faithful animals had to accompany him. In the neighborhood, however, there was a forest of which it was reported that it was haunted, and that whosoever did but enter