Part 31

Then the men told him they were three brothers, and that when their father died he had left them these three things,--the turban, the carpet, and the sword. Whoever placed the turban on his head would at once become invisible. Whoever sat on the carpet had only to wish himself wherever he would be, and the carpet would carry him there in a twinkling, and the sword would cut through anything, and no magic could stand against it.

"These things should belong to me, because I am the eldest," cried one of the men.

"No, I should have them because I am the strongest and stoutest," said the second.

"But I am the youngest and weakest and need them most," cried the third. They then began to quarrel again and even came to blows.

"Stop, stop," cried the lad. "You said that I should decide this matter for you, so why quarrel about it? But before I decide I must try the things and see whether what you have told me is really so."

To this the brothers agreed. First they gave him the sword, and the lad took it in his hand and aimed a blow at a rock near by, and the sword cut through the rock as smoothly and easily as though it had been a piece of cheese.

"Now give me the turban," said the lad.

The brothers gave him the turban, and he placed it upon his head and at once became invisible!

"Now the carpet."

The brothers spread out the carpet on the ground, and the lad seated himself upon it with the turban still upon his head and the sword in his hand! Then he wished himself far away in some place where the brothers would never find him.

Immediately he found himself in the outskirts of a large city. He stepped from the carpet and rolled it up and took the turban from his head and looked about him. He had no idea of going back to return the things to the brothers, and if they waited for him they waited a long time. "It will teach them not to quarrel but to live at peace with each other," said the lad to himself. Then he made his way to the nearest house, for he was hungry and meant to ask for a bite to eat.

He knocked, and an old woman opened the door, and she was so old that her chin and her nose met.

"Good day, mother," said the lad.

"Good day to you," answered the crone.

"Will you give me a bite to eat, for the love of charity?"

Yes, the crone would do that. She gave him a bite and a sup and a bit over, and while he was eating and drinking she sat and talked with him.

"What is the news here in the city?" asked the lad.

"Oh the same news as ever."

"And what is that? For I am a stranger here and know no more of yesterday or the week before than of to-day."

"Then I will tell you. Over yonder lies the castle, and the King lives there. He has only one daughter, and she is a beauty, you may believe. Every night the Princess disappears from the castle, and where she goes no one can tell but herself, and she will not. So the King has offered a reward to any one who will find out. The half of his kingdom he offers and the hand of the Princess as well, if only any one can tell him where she goes."

"That is a good hearing," said the lad. "I have a mind to try for that prize myself."

"No, but wait a bit," said the old woman. "There is another side to the story, for if you try and fail your head will be lifted from your shoulders with a sharp sword, and you are too fine a young man to lose your life in that way."

But the lad was determined to try. In vain the old woman warned and entreated him. He thanked her for the meal he had eaten, and then off he set for the palace. There he told the errand that had brought him and after that it did not take long for him to get to see the King.

"So you think you can find out where the Princess goes at night," said the King.

Yes, the lad thought he could.

Very well, then, he might have a try at it, but he must remember that if he tried and failed his head would be cut from his shoulders with a sharp sword.

Yes, the lad understood that, and he was ready to take the risk.

So that night he was taken to the door of a room in a high tower, and the room was of iron and had only one door and one window. Into this room the Princess was put every night, and it would be the duty of the lad to watch at the door and see either that she did not leave it, or where she went.