For a long time the child sat sobbing, and the noise was heard by
the king as he was driving by. 'Go and see who it is that is crying
so,' said he to one of his servants, and the man went. In a few
minutes he returned saying: 'Your Majesty, it is a little boy who is
kneeling there sobbing because his mother has beaten him.'

'Bring him to me at once,' commanded the monarch, 'and tell him
that it is the king who sends for him, and that he has never cried in
all his life and cannot bear anyone else to do so.' On receiving this
message the boy dried his tears and went with the servant to the
royal carriage. 'Will you be my son?' asked the king.

'Yes, if my mother will let me,' answered the boy. And the king
bade the servant go back to the mother and say that if she would
give her boy to him, he should live in the palace and marry his
prettiest daughter as soon as he was a man.

The widow's anger now turned into joy, and she came running to
the splendid coach and kissed the king's hand. 'I hope you will be
more obedient to his Majesty than you were to me,' she said; and
the boy shrank away half-frightened. But when she had gone back
to her cottage, he asked the king if he might fetch something that he
had left in the garden, and when he was given permission, he pulled
up his little sword, which he slid into the scabbard.

Then he climbed into the coach and was driven away.

After they had gone some distance the king said: 'Why were you
crying so bitterly in the garden just now?'