He travelled on over hills, and along gloomy roads, till he got deep in
a dark forest. There the old man with the gray beard met him. The lad
was very glad to fall in with him again, and said to him--

"Good-day, father. I thank you for our last meeting."

"Good-day," answered the old man. "Where are you going?"

"I am going into the world," said the boy, "to see what fortune I shall
have."

"Go on," said the old man, "and you will come to a royal palace; there
you will have a change of fortune."

With that they parted; but the lad paid good heed to the old man's
words, and kept on his way. When he came to a house, he played on his
pipe while his dogs danced, and so he got food and shelter, and whatever
he wanted.

Having travelled for some days, he at last entered a large city,
through the streets of which great crowds of people were passing. The
lad wondered what was the cause of all this. At last he came to where
proclamation was being made, that whoever should rescue the three
princesses from the hands of the mountain giants should have one of them
for his wife and half the kingdom with her. Then the lad remembered what
the old man had told him, and understood what he meant. He called his
dogs to him, and went on till he came to the palace. There, from the
time that the princesses disappeared, the place had been filled with
sorrow and mourning, and the king and the queen grieved more than all
the others. The boy entered the palace, and begged to be allowed to play