The wicked Queen was standing all this time on the tower, and,
hearing the bells ringing at a great distance off, knew very well it
was the princes coming home, and the steed with them, and through
spite and vexation precipitated herself from the tower and was
shattered to pieces.

The three princes lived happy and well during their father's
reign, and always keeping the Black Thief along with them; but
how they did after the old King's death is not known.[4]


[4] The Hibernian Tales.



THE MASTER THIEF

THERE was once upon a time a husbandman who had three sons.
He had no property to bequeath to them, and no means of putting
them in the way of getting a living, and did not know what to
do, so he said that they had his leave to take to anything they most
fancied, and go to any place they best liked. He would gladly
accompany them for some part of their way, he said, and that he did.
He went with them till they came to a place where three roads
met, and there each of them took his own way, and the father bade
them farewell and returned to his own home again. What became
of the two elder I have never been able to discover, but the youngest
went both far and wide.

It came to pass, one night, as he was going through a great