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I'm all alone
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Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:45 am


The Three Heads of the Well

In the days before King Arthur, a king held his court in Colchester. He had a beautiful daughter by his beautiful wife, but when his wife died, he married a hideous widow with a daughter of her own, for her riches, and his new wife set him against his daughter. His daughter begged leave to go and seek her fortune, and he permitted it, and his wife gave her brown bread, hard cheese, and a bottle of beer.

She goes on her way and sees an old man sitting on a stone. When he asks what she has, she tells him and offers him some. After they eat, he tells her how to get through a hedge, and that she will find three golden heads in a well there, and should do whatever they tell her.

The heads ask her to comb them and wash them, and after she does so, one says she shall be beautiful, the next that she will have a sweet voice, and the third that she shall be fortunate and queen to the greatest prince that reigns.

She goes on, and a king sees her and falls in love with her. They marry and go back to visit her father. Her stepmother is enraged that her stepdaughter and not her daughter gained all this, and sent her daughter on the same journey. The daughter was rude to the old man, and slighted the three heads, and they curse her with leprosy, a harsh voice, and marriage to a cobbler.

She goes on. A cobbler offers to cure her leprosy and voice if she will marry him, and she agrees.

Her mother, finding she had married a cobbler, hangs herself, and the king gives his stepdaughter's husband a hundred pounds to quit the court and live elsewhere.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:46 am


The Three Languages

A count's son could learn nothing. The count sent him to find a master who could teach him something. One year, he came back saying he knew what dogs said when they barked; the next, what birds said; the third, what frogs said. Infuriated by his uselessness, his father drove him out.

He was offered a night's shelter in a tower, but warned that wild dogs barked and howled there, and every night ate a man. He went and came back, saying that the dogs were there to guard a treasure until it was taken, and they had told him how to take it. The lord of the castle asked him to do it, and he came out with a chest of gold, and the lord adopted him as a son.

He went to Rome. On the way, listening to frogs made him thoughtful. In Rome, the Pope had died, and they could not choose his successor, and were looking for some marvelous sign. Two doves descended on him, and they chose him as Pope — as the frogs had foretold. The doves persuaded him, and he had to sing Mass, but the doves whispered how to do it in his ear.


Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile



Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:47 am


The Three Little Birds

Three sisters were tending cows when a king and his company went by. The oldest pointed at the king and said she would marry him or no one; her sisters pointed at ministers and said the same. The king summoned them before him, and then, because they were very beautiful, he married the oldest and his ministers married the youngest.

The king had to go on a journey, and had her sisters attend the queen. She gave birth to a son with a red star on his forehead. Her sisters threw him into the water and, though a bird sprang out of the water singing of what they had told and terrifying them, told the king the queen had given birth to a dog, but a fisherman fished the boy out of the water and raised him. The king said that whatever God sent was good, and again when it happened with his second son, but when they did the same with a third child, a daughter, and said the queen had given birth to a cat, he threw his wife into a prison.

One day, the other boys would not let the oldest fish with them, because he was a foundling. So he set out to find his father. He found an old woman fishing and told her she would fish long before she caught anything. She told him that he would search long before he found his father, and carried him over the water to do it. The next year, the second boy set out in search of the brother, and it fared the same with him. The next year, the girl set out as well, and when she found the woman, she said "May God bless your fishing." The old woman gave her a rod and told her to go to a castle, bring back a caged bird and a glass of water, and on the way back, strike a black dog with the rod. She did it, found her brothers on the way, and when she struck the dog, turned it into a handsome prince. They went back home to the fisherman.

The second son went hunting and, when he grew tired, played a flute. The king heard this and found him. He did not believe he was the fisherman's son, so the second son invited him home. There, the bird sang the story of what happened to them. The queen was let out of prison, the false sisters killed, and the daughter married the prince.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:48 am


Three Little Pigs

he story begins with the title characters being sent out into the world by their mother, to "seek their fortune". The first little pig builds a house of straw, but a wolf blows it down and the pig runs to his brothers house. The second pig builds a house of sticks and when he sees his brother he lets him in, with the same ultimate result. Each exchange between wolf and pig features ringing proverbial phrases, namely:

"Little pig, little pig, let me come in."
"No, no, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin."
"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in."[3]

The third pig builds a house of hard bricks and when he sees his brothers he lets them in, the wolf fails to blow down the house. He then attempts to trick the pigs out of the house, but the pigs outsmarts him at every turn. Finally, the wolf resolves to come down the chimney, whereupon the pigs boils a pot of water in which the wolf then lands and is cooked.

The story utilizes the literary Rule of three, expressed in this case as a "contrasting three", as the three pigs' brick house turns out to be the only one which is adequate to withstand the wolf.[4]

Variations of the tale appeared in Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings in 1881. The story also made an appearance in Nights with Uncle Remus in 1883, both by Joel Chandler Harris, in which the pigs were replaced by Brer Rabbit. Andrew Lang included it in "The Green Fairy Book", published in 1892, but did not cite his source. In contrast to Jacobs' version, which left the pigs nameless, Lang's retelling cast the pigs as Browny, Whitey, and Blacky. It also set itself apart by exploring each pig's character and detailing interaction between them. The antagonist of this version is a fox, not a wolf. Blacky, the third pig, rescues his brother and sister from the fox's den after killing the fox.

Retellings of the story sometimes omit the attempts to trick the third pig, or state that the first pig ran to the second pig's house, then both of them ran to the third pig's house of bricks. The latter is often an attempt to write out death or violence in the story and the frist and second little pigs have their own brick houses[citation needed]


Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile



Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:49 am


The Three Little Men in the Wood

A woman offered marriage to a widower with a daughter, saying that her own daughter would drink water and wash in water, while the man's daughter would drink wine and wash in milk. The man gave his daughter a boot with a hole in it, and told her to take it to the barn and fill it with water; if it held the water, he would remarry, and if not, he would not. The water pulled the hole together, and the boot held it, so he remarried.

The woman kept her promise one day; the second day, both girls drank and washed in water; the third and after, the stepdaughter drank and washed in water, while the daughter drank wine and washed in milk. One winter day, the stepmother ordered her stepdaughter to wear a dress of paper and seek strawberries in the wood, giving her only a piece of hard bread to eat.

While in the wood, the girl met three little men. She politely asked permission to come into their home, which they gave. Inside, she sat by the fire and began to eat the bread. The three men said, "Give us some, too!" and so, having a kind heart, the girl did. The little men directed her to sweep the back steps, and she did so, and - to her great surprise - found the strawberries for which she had been searching. The little men wanted to reward the girl for her kindness, so they each spoke a wish: one declared that she should grow more beautiful every day, the other declared that a gold piece should fall from her mouth whenever she spoke, and the third declared that a king would marry her.

The girl returned home, only to be welcomed by the envy of her stepsister, who wanted the same fortune for herself. Her mother, however, would not allow her child into the cold wood, but the daughter insisted, so the mother gave her warm clothing and good food to take with her. The girl found the same little men, but refused to either share her food or sweep the back steps. The little men wanted to punish her for her haughtiness and one declared that she would grow more ugly every day, the other declared that a toad should fall from her mouth whenever she spoke, and the third declared that she would die a miserable death.

One day, the stepmother boiled yarn and gave it to her stepdaughter, ordering her to chop a hole in the ice on the river and rinse it. While the stepdaughter did this, a king saw her and asked what she was doing. "I am a poor girl, and I am rinsing yarn." The king was taken with her beauty, so he took her with him to marry her and make her his queen. Within a year, the young queen had a son. The evil stepmother called on her, but as soon as she had a chance, she and her daughter threw her young queen out the window and into a stream, and the stepmother put her own daughter in her place. The stepmother told the king that the queen had a fever which caused the toads to fall from her mouth instead of the gold pieces.

But a duck swam up to the castle and asked after the king, the guests, and the baby. A scullion answered that they were sleeping. When the duck heard this, it transformed into the young queen herself. She went to nurse her baby, then transformed back into a duck. She did this for two nights; on the third night, she told the scullion to have the king swing his sword over her three times, on the threshold. This turned her back into her human form again. The king hid her until the baby's christening, when he asked the stepmother what should be done with someone who threw someone into the water. The woman said that they deserve no less than to be put in a barrel stuck full of nails and rolled down the hill into the water. The king declared that the stepmother and her evil daughter had named their own fate and were executed in that fashion.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:50 am


The Three May Peaches

A king of Ardenne had a beautiful daughter who was sick. A doctor declared that the three finest May peaches would save her, but then she would have to marry within a week or fall sick again. Many men came with peaches, but none saved the princess. A woman had three sons, and the oldest set out with the finest peaches from their orchard. He met an old woman who asked what he had; he claimed rabbit dung, she said that so it was, and when he got the castle, that was what he carried. His next brother set out next, told the old woman he carried horse dung, and again found that was what he carried. The youngest, who was short and regarded as a little simple, persuaded his mother to let him try as well, and told the old woman that he carried the peaches to cure the princess, and she said so it was and also gave him a silver whistle. When he got to the castle, eating the peaches revived the princess.

The king did not want such a puny little son-in-law. He told the boy had to herd a hundred rabbits and not lose one for four days. The first day, the rabbits scattered, but the boy used the whistle to bring them back. The second day, the king sent the princess to get one; the boy would only trade one for a kiss, and when she had it and had reached the gates of the castle, he used the whistle, and it came back. The next day, the king sent the queen to get one; the boy would only trade one if the queen turned three somersaults, and when she did, the king locked it in a room but the boy used his whistle and it came back through a window. The fourth day, the king went himself. The boy would only trade it if the king kissed his donkey's behind. When the king had gotten the rabbit, he had it killed and skinned and put on to casserole, but the boy used his whistle and it jumped out of the dish, back into its skin, and back to the boy.

Then the king said that the boy had to fill three sacks with truths. He said the princess had kissed him for a rabbit, and that filled the first sack; the queen had turned somersaults for a rabbit, and that filled the second. The king stopped him and let him marry the princess.


Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile



Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:50 am


The Three Princes and their Beasts

Three princes had a stepsister. They all set out one day, hunting, and were going to shoot a wolf when it offered to give each of the princes a cub if they did not. The same thing happened with a lioness, a fox, a hare, a boar, and a bear. Then they came to a crossroads. The oldest told his brothers to each mark a birch there: if they returned and saw blood flowing, they would know that brother was dead, but if milk flowed, he was alive. Then they asked their stepsister which one she wanted to go with, and she went with the oldest.

The oldest prince found a den of robbers. With the aid of his beasts, he killed all of them but one, who feigned death. He and his stepsister lived there. The next day, he went hunting. The surviving robber forced the stepsister to bring him magical potions that healed him, and had her trick her brother into letting her tie his hands behind his back. It was a test of his strength, and took three cords to do it; on the third, the robber appeared, brandishing a knife. The prince tricked him into letting him blow his horn. The animals came and killed the robber. He chained his stepsister to the wall to let her repent, and put a great bowl before her, telling her he would not see her until she filled it with her tears.

He went on and came a town where the princess was about to be handed over to a dragon. He went to the seashore where she was to be handed over, and with his animals killed the dragon. The princess had him come into the coach to drive back to the castle and gave him a ring and half her handkerchief. But the coachman and footman killed him to claim they had killed the dragon.

The animals gathered around the body, until the wolf had an idea. It killed an ox and set the fox as a guard over it. It caught a crow, and the lion told it they would not kill it if it got them the waters to revive the prince. It did so, and the prince went to the town. The princess was to marry the coachman, but the prince proved himself the dragon-slayer by the ring and the handkerchief, so the coachman was thrown in prison, and the prince married the princess.

One day, he went hunting and lost his way. He asked a witch if he might stay the night, but she claimed to fear his animals and asked to touch them with a rod. He agreed, but it turned them, and him, into stone.

The youngest brother returned to the crossroads and saw that ill had befallen his oldest brother. He went down that road, and the people of the town took him for their prince. The princess knew he was not her husband and begged him to find him. He went, found the same witch, and suffered the same fate.

The middle brother returned to the crossroads and saw that ill had befallen both his brothers. He went down the same road as his oldest brother, and again only the princess knew who he was. He went out to search, found the witch, but told her that only he could strike his animals. She gave him the rod, and he touched the fox with it, and he saw it turned it to stone. Then he threatened her with his animals unless she restored his brothers, so she did so and they returned to the town, where the princess knew her own husband.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:52 am


The Three Princesses of Whiteland

A fisherman caught nothing one day, and near evening, a head popped up from the water, to make a bargain for him: fish for what his wife carried under her girdle. When he returned home, his wife told him that she was pregnant and the baby was what he had offered. The king heard of their story and offered to raise their son when he was born, to protect him, but when the boy was grown, he begged to go with his father fishing for one day, and as soon as he set foot in the boat, it was dragged off to a far land.

He met an old man, who told him that he had come to Whiteland. If he walked down the shore, he would come to three princesses buried up to their necks in sand. If he passed by the first two and spoke to the third, the youngest, it would bring him good luck.

The youngest princess told him that three trolls had imprisoned them there. If he went up into the castle by the shore and let each troll beat him for one night, the princesses would be freed. A flask of ointment by the bed there would cure all the injuries he suffered, and a sword would let him cut off their heads.

The first troll had three heads and three rods, and when he had suffered the princesses stood in the sand up to their waists; the second had six heads and six rods, and the princesses stood in sand up to their knees; the third had nine heads and nine rods, and beat him so severely that he could not reach for the ointment, but it threw him against the wall, and the flask broke, spilling ointment on him, and he killed it, freeing the princesses entirely.

He married the youngest and lived happily with her for several years, but at the end of them, he wanted to visit his parents. His wife finally agreed but told him that he must do only what his father asks, not what his mother wishes, and gave him a ring that would grant two wishes, one to go home and one to return. He went, and his mother wanted to show him to the king. His father said not to, but in the end she had her way, and while at the king's, he wished that his wife was there to compare to the king's. That summoned his wife and used up his second wish. Sadly, his wife took the ring, knotted a ring with her name on it in his hair, and wished herself home again.

He decided to see if he could reach Whiteland on his own and set out. He came to the king of all the animals and asked if he knew the way. He did not, and neither did all the animals when he summoned them, so the king lent the man a pair of snowshoes to reach his brother, who was the king of all the birds. The king of the birds did not know, and neither did the birds, so that king lent him a pair of snowshoes to reach his brother, the king of all the fish. The third king did not know, but an old pike, the last of all the fish to arrive, knew the way and that his wife was to remarry the next day.

The king sent him to a field where three brothers had fought for a hundred years over a magical hat, cloak, and pair of boots, which would let the wearer make himself invisible and wish himself wherever he wanted. He tricked the brothers into letting him try them and set out to Whiteland. He met the North Wind on the way, and it promised to storm the castle as if to blow it down when it reached the land after him.

He arrived, and the North Wind carried off the new bridegroom. His wife recognized him by the ring in his hair.


Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile



Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:53 am


The Three Sisters

A woman had three daughters; the two older were very unlucky but the youngest, Nella, was very fortunate. A prince married her and hid her from his wicked mother, visiting her in secret. She could throw a powder in a fire, and he would come to her on a crystal road. Her sisters discovered this and broke the road, so that the prince was injured when he was coming to her.

He was dying. His father proclaimed that whoever cured him would marry him, if female, or have half the kingdom, if male.

Nella heard of it and set out. Hiding in a tree, she overheard an ogre tell his wife about the illness, and how only the fat from their bodies could cure the prince. She climbed down and presented herself at their door as a beggar. The ogre, greedy of her flesh, persuaded his wife to let her stay. When they slept, Nella killed them and took their fat. She brought it to the king and cured the prince. He said he could not marry her because he was married already; Nella asked if he wanted to be married to the person responsible, and the prince blamed her sisters. Nella revealed herself as his wife. Her sisters were thrown in an oven.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:54 am


The Three Spinners

A lazy girl would not spin and her mother was berating her for it when the Queen overheard her and asked what she was scolding. Ashamed to admit that her daughter was lazy, the woman claimed that the girl spun so much that she could not buy enough flax. The Queen offered to take her with her.

Once at the castle, the queen showed her a room filled with flax. If she spun it all in three days, she could marry the queen's oldest son. Two days later she returned and was astounded to find it all untouched. The girl pled that homesickness kept her from spinning, but knew that excuse would not serve twice.

Three women appeared in the night. One had a grotesquely swollen foot; another, a thumb; the third, a lip. They offered to spin it if she would invite them to the wedding, say they were her aunts, and sit them at the high table. She agrees, and they do.

In the morning, the queen arranges for the wedding to their son, the prince, and the girl asks to invite her "aunts". When they appear, the king asks how they came to have such swollen body parts, and they explain that it comes from their endless spinning. The king forbade his beautiful daughter-in-law from spinning again.


Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile



Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:56 am


The Three Treasures of the Giants

A man had three sons. When he was dying, he told his oldest that he would inherit, but must be kind to his mother and his younger brothers; he then gave the older two much advice, and told the youngest son that while he was not clever, he had a kind heart and should follow it.

After he died, the sons set out to seek their fortune; the older two wanted to leave the youngest behind, but their mother said there was nothing for him there. The older two carried great sacks of food, the youngest nothing, and the older two grew angry that they had to carry the weight. The youngest rebuked them for claiming not to want to burden their mother, when they took all her food. They shared with him. At night, they ate on their own, and the family of the woodcutter shared with the youngest, so that he ate better than they did. They set out to lose him in the wood and found a castle. It was empty of people but had a room filled with copper coins, another with silver, and a third with gold, and the two older emptied their sacks at each room to fill them up. When the youngest ate the food they had dropped, they drove him off and returned to their mother with the money.

The youngest went back to the castle and made a bag of his jacket to take some gold. The giants returned and caught him. They told him they would spare him if he guarded their treasures, and gave him a table to feed himself at; if he knocked on it, it gave him a feast. One day he grew tired of guarding and went off, taking the table. He found a hermit and gave him a feast; the hermit offered to trade the table for a trumpet that would bring him an army when he blew it. The youngest son agreed, but when he went on his way, he regretted it, blew the trumpet, and had the soldiers take back the table. He went on and found another hermit; after another feast, the hermit offered him a bag that contained as many castles as he liked. He agreed, but again had the soldiers take back the table.

Going back home, he stayed with his brothers a time, and the secret leaked out. The king borrowed the table, and tried to substitute a false one. The youngest son used the trumpet and the king offered to give back the table and let him marry the princess. He agreed. When he produced a castle to live in, the king said he was old and weak and made him king.

In Lang's variant, the youngest son lived to be old and happy, but his descendants were too proud to look after the treasure and so were overcome.

In Manning-Sanders's, the hermits arrived and demanded the table; because they could not both take it to their hermitages, the princess proposed that they remain at the castle and eat there every day. This made the son feel guilty, so he went back to offer it to the giants, who told them they did not want it, because it made food for men.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:57 am


The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars

A very rich and hard-hearted merchant, Mark or Marko, had one daughter, Anastasia. One day, he was about to set dogs on three beggars, when Anastasia pleaded with him. He let them stay in the stable loft. Anastasia went to see them. In the Russian version, they were then grandly dressed; in both, they decided to give Marko's wealth to a new-born named Vasilii, the seventh son of a poor peasant in a nearby village. She told her father. He went and found just such a boy had been born. He offered to be his godfather and then to raise the boy, giving the poor father a sum of money as well. When the father agreed, the merchant threw the baby over a cliff.

Other merchants picked up the child and brought him to Marko, who persuaded them to leave him with them. He put the boy in a barrel, or an open boat, and threw it into the sea. It floated to a monastery, where the abbot took the child in. Many years later, Marko passed by and heard the story. He persuaded the abbot that he wanted to take him in, and that he would give a large sum to the monastery for it. The abbot and monks agreed, and Marko sent him to his wife with a letter prescribing that he should be pushed into the soap-making cauldron at once.

Vasilii met the three beggars on the way, who breathed on the letter. When he arrived, the letter called for him to marry Anastasia at once. His wife obeyed, and Marko arrived to find a letter in his own handwriting calling for it. So he sent his son-in-law to collect rent from Tsar Zmey (Russian) or the Serpent King (Serbian).

In the Serbian version, he met an old oak which asks if he can discover why it can't fall. In both, he met a ferryman who asks if he can discover why he is bound to ferry people back and forth, and a whale being used as a bridge, which asks if he can discover how long it will be bound to this task.

At the castle, he met a maiden, who hid him and asked the Serpent King or Tsar Zmey in serpent form, about a dream she had had. He told her the oak had to be pushed over, which would reveal treasure, the ferryman had to push the boat off with another person in it, and the whale had to vomit up the twelve ships it had swallowed without leave. He went back, carefully not telling the whale and the ferryman until he had already crossed. In the Russian version, he received jewels from the whale; in the Serbian, he found gold and silver under the oak. He returned to Marko, who set out to make sure the next time, Vasilii would not be able to escape, but the ferryman pushed the boat off, and Marko is ferrying people still.


Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile



Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:58 am


Thumbelina

the tale opens with a beggar woman giving a peasant's wife a barleycorn in exchange for food. Once planted, a tiny girl, Thumbelina (Tommelise), emerges from its flower. One night, Thumbelina, asleep in her walnut-shell cradle, is carried off by a toad who wants the miniature maiden as a bride for her son. With the help of friendly fish and a butterfly, Thumbelina escapes the toad and her son, and drifts on a lily pad until captured by a stag-beetle. The insect discards her when his friends reject her company. Thumbelina tries to protect herself from the elements, but when winter comes, she is in desperate straits. She is finally given shelter by an old fieldmouse and tends her dwelling in gratitude. The mouse suggests Thumbelina marry her neighbor, a mole, but Thumbelina finds repulsive the prospect of being married to such a creature. She escapes the situation by fleeing to a far land with a swallow she nursed back to health during the winter. In a sunny field of flowers, Thumbelina meets a tiny flower-fairy prince just her size and to her liking, and they wed. She receives a pair of wings to accompany her husband on his travels from flower to flower, and a new name, Maia
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:59 am


The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal

A brahmin passes a tiger in a trap. The tiger pleads for his release, promising not to eat the brahmin. The brahmin sets him free, but no sooner is the tiger free than he announces his intention to eat the brahmin.

The brahmin is horrified, and tells the tiger how unjust he is. They agree that they will ask the first three things they encounter to judge between them.

The first thing they encounter is a tree, who, having suffered at the hands of humankind, answers that the tiger should have his meal. Next a buffalo, exploited and then mistreated, feels it is only just that the brahmin should be eaten.

Finally they meet a jackal, who at first feigns incomprehension of what has happened and asks to see the trap. Once there he claims still not to understand. The tiger gets back in the trap to demonstrate, and the jackal quickly shuts him in, suggesting to the brahmin that they leave matters thus.


Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile



Yuki_Windira

Crew

Spoopy Bibliophile

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:00 am


The Tinderbox

The story opens with a soldier climbing into a hollow tree to retrieve a magic tinderbox at the behest of a witch. In the tree, he finds three chambers filled with precious coins guarded by three monstrous dogs. He fills his pockets with money, finds the tinderbox, and returns to the witch. When she demands the tinderbox without giving a reason, the soldier lops off her head with his sword.

In the following scene, the soldier enters a large city and buys himself splendid clothing. He makes many friends, and lives in a magnificent apartment. He learns of a princess kept in a tower after a prophecy foretold her marriage to a common soldier; his interest is piqued and he wants to see her but realizes his whim cannot be satisfied. Eventually, the soldier's money is depleted and he is forced to live in a dark attic. He strikes the tinderbox to light the room, and one of the dogs appears before him. The soldier then discovers he can summon all three dogs and order them to bring him money from their subterranean dwelling. Again, he lives splendidly.

One night, he recalls the story of the princess in the locked tower, and desires to see her. He strikes the tinderbox and sends one of the dogs to bring her to his apartment. The soldier is overwhelmed with her beauty, kisses her and orders the dog to return her to the tower. The following morning, the princess tells her parents she has had a strange dream and relates the night's adventure. The royal couple then watch her closely. When the princess is carried away again, they unsuccessfully use a trail of flour and chalk marks on neighborhood doors to find where she spends her nights. Eventually, her whereabouts are discovered and the soldier is clapped in prison and sentenced to death.

On the day of execution, the soldier sends a boy for his tinderbox, and, at the scaffold, asks to have a last smoke. He then strikes the tinderbox and the three monstrous dogs appear. They toss the judge and the councilors, the King and Queen into the air. All are dashed to pieces when they fall to earth. The soldier and the princess are united, and the dogs join the wedding feast.
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