from him, for he slept so soundly that all she said seemed to
him only like the rushing of the wind through the fir-trees.

Then the poor wife sat down and wept again, until she thought of
the egg the Moon had given her; and when she took the egg and
broke it, there came out of it a hen with twelve chickens, all
of gold, and the chickens pecked quite prettily, and then ran
under the wings of the hen for shelter. Presently, the Enchanted
Princess looked out of the window, and saw the hen and the
chickens, and asked if they were for sale. "Not for gold or
silver, but for flesh and blood," was the answer she got; and
then the wife made the same bargain as before--that she should
spend the night in the bridegroom's chamber. Now this night the
Prince was warned by his servant, and so he poured away the
sleeping draught instead of drinking it; and when his wife came,
and told her sorrowful story, he knew her, and said, "Now I am
saved;" and then they both went as quickly as possible, and set
themselves upon the Griffin, who carried them over the Red Sea;
and when they got to the middle of the sea, the Princess let
fall the nut which the North Wind had given to her, and a great
nut-tree grew up at once, on which the Griffin rested; and then
it went straight to their home, where they lived happy ever
after.

One more story of the same kind must be told, for three reasons:
because it is very good reading, because it brings together
various legends, and because it shows that these were common to
Celtic as well as to Hindu, Greek, Teutonic, and Scandinavian
peoples. It is called "The Battle of the Birds," and is given at
full length, and in several different versions, in Campbell's