Go straight on, and thou
wilt come to a castle before which a whole troop of soldiers will be
lying asleep. Go right through the midst of them into the castle, and
thou wilt come to a chamber where is hanging a wooden cage containing
a golden bird. Close by stands an empty golden cage, for show; but be
careful that thou dost not take the bird out of its ugly cage and put
it in the splendid one, or it will be very unlucky for thee."
With these words the fox once more stretched out its tail, and the
King's son sat upon it again, and away they went over hill and dale,
with their hair whistling in the wind.
When they arrived at the castle, the Prince found everything as the
fox had said, and he soon discovered the room in which the golden bird
was sitting in its wooden cage; by it stood a golden one; while three
golden apples were lying about the room. But the Prince thought it
would be silly to put such a lovely bird in so ugly and common a cage;
so, opening the door, he placed it in the golden cage. In an instant
the bird set up a piercing shriek, which awakened all the soldiers,
who rushed in and made him prisoner.
The next morning he was brought before a judge, who at once condemned
him to death.
Pages:
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416