above it. That night, however, it had not the same appearance as
on the previous one; it was less ugly.

When all was quiet in the church, the smith lay down before the
altar and slept calmly till the following morning, when the
colonel came to fetch him. He was taken up to the king again,
and things went on as the day before. He got his money, but
would give no explanation whether he had seen the king's
daughter, and he would not take the post again, he said. But
after he had got a good breakfast, and tasted well of the king's
wines, he undertook to go on guard again the third night, but he
would not do it for less than the half of the kingdom, he said,
for it was a dangerous post, and the king had to agree, and
promise him this.

The remainder of the day went like the previous one. He played
the boastful soldier, and the merry smith, and he had comrades
and boon-companions in plenty. At eight o'clock he had to put on
his uniform again, and was shut up in the church. He had not
been there for an hour before he had come to his senses, and
thought, 'It's best to stop now, while the game is going well.'
The third night, he was sure, would be the worst; he had been
drunk when he promised it, and the half of the kingdom, the king
could never have been in earnest about that! So he decided to
leave, without waiting so long as on the previous nights. In
that way he would escape the little man who had watched him
before. All the doors and posterns were locked, but he finally
though of creeping up to a window, and opening that, and as the
clock struck nine, he crept out there. It was fairly high in the
wall, but he got to the ground with no bones broken, and started