'Not I,' replied the boy.

'He will tell me,' cried the youngest, who was the prettiest too.

'I will tell nobody till it comes true,' said the boy, as he had said
before; 'and I will beat anybody who asks me.'

The king was very sorry when he heard this, for he loved the boy
dearly; but he thought it would never do to keep anyone near him
who would not do as he was bid. So he commanded his servants to
take him away and not to let him enter the palace again until he had
come to his right senses.

The sword clanked loudly as the boy was led away, but the child
said nothing, though he was very unhappy at being treated so badly
when he had done nothing. However, the servants were very kind
to him, and their children brought him fruit and all sorts of nice
things, and he soon grew merry again, and lived amongst them for
many years till his seventeenth birthday.

Meanwhile the two eldest princesses had become women, and had
married two powerful kings who ruled over great countries across
the sea. The youngest one was old enough to be married too, but
she was very particular, and turned up her nose at all the young
princes who had sought her hand.

One day she was sitting in the palace feeling rather dull and lonely,
and suddenly she began to wonder what the servants were doing,
and whether it was not more amusing down in their quarters. The