moment it was opened the beasts rushed in, and each seized on a
robber, killed him, and dragged the body down to the cellar.
Now, one of the robbers was not really killed, only badly
wounded, but he lay quite still and pretended to be dead like the
others. Then the prince and his step-sister entered the castle
and took up their abode in it.

The next morning the prince went out hunting. Before leaving he
told his step-sister that she might go into every room in the
house except into the cave where the dead robbers lay. But as
soon as his back was turned she forgot what he had said, and
having wandered through all the other rooms she went down to the
cellar and opened the door. As soon as she looked in the robber
who had only pretended to be dead sat up and said to her:

'Don't be afraid. Do what I tell you, and I will be your friend.

If you marry me you will be much happier with me than with your
brother. But you must first go into the sitting-room and look in
the cupboard. There you will find three bottles. In one of them
there is a healing ointment which you must put on my chin to heal
the wound; then if I drink the contents of the second bottle it
will make me well, and the third bottle will make me stronger
than I ever was before. Then, when your brother comes back from
the wood with his beasts you must go to him and say, "Brother,
you are very strong. If I were to fasten your thumbs behind your
back with a stout silk cord, could you wrench yourself free?"
And when you see that he cannot do it, call me.'

When the brother came home, the step-sister did as the robber had