air, and by-and-by there he was, just where he had been before.
He put his feather cap upon his head, and stepped in through the
window, and there he found the princess with her father, the
king, and her mother, the queen, and all the great lords and
nobles waiting for his coming; but never a stitch nor a hair did
they see of him until he stood in the very midst of them all.
Then he whipped the feather cap off of his head, and there he
was, shining with silver and gold and glistening with
jewels--such a sight as man's eyes never saw before.

"Take her," said the king, "she is yours." And the soldier looked
so handsome in his fine clothes that the princess was as glad to
hear those words as any she had ever listened to in all of her
life.

"You shall," said the king, "be married to-morrow."

"Very well," said the soldier. "Only give me a plot of ground to
build a palace upon that shall be fit for the wife of the King of
the Wind to live in."

"You shall have it," said the king," and it shall be the great
parade ground back of the palace, which is so wide and long that
all my army can march round and round in it without getting into
its own way; and that ought to be big enough."

"Yes," said the soldier, "it is." Thereupon he put on his feather
cap and disappeared from the sight of all as quickly as one might
snuff out a candle.