Before him stood a miserable hovel, into which, being tired after his
long, unsuccessful chase, he entered to ask for a drink of water. An
old woman, seated in the hut at a spinning-wheel, answered his request
by calling to her daughter, and immediately from an inner room came
a maiden so lovely and charming, so white-skinned and golden-haired,
that the King was transfixed by astonishment at seeing so beautiful a
sight in the wretched hovel.
She held the vessel of water to the King's lips, and as he drank he
looked into her eyes, and then it became clear to him that the girl
was no other than the white hind with the golden horns and silver feet
he had chased so far.
Her beauty bewitched him, so he fell on his knees, begging her to
return with him as his bride; but she only laughed, saying seven
Queens were quite enough even for a King to manage. However, when he
would take no refusal, but implored her to have pity on him, promising
her everything she could desire, she replied, "Give me the eyes of
your seven Queens, and then perhaps I may believe you mean what you
say."
The King was so carried away by the glamor of the white hind's magical
beauty that he went home at once, had the eyes of his seven Queens
taken out, and, after throwing the poor blind creatures into a noisome
dungeon whence they could not escape, set off once more for the hovel
in the ravine, bearing with him his horrible offering.
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