gh the window, and there he found the princess with her
father, the king, and her mother, the queen, and all the great lords and
nobles waiting for his coming; but never a stitch nor a hair did they
see of him until he stood in the very midst of them all. Then he whipped
the feather cap off of his head, and there he was, shining with silver
and gold and glistening with jewels--such a sight as man's eyes never
saw before.

"Take her," said the king, "she is yours." And the soldier looked so
handsome in his fine clothes that the princess was as glad to hear those
words as any she had ever listened to in all of her life.

"You shall," said the king, "be married to-morrow."

"Very well," said the soldier. "Only give me a plot of ground to build
a palace upon that shall be fit for the wife of the King of the Wind to
live in."

"You shall have it," said the king, "and it shall be the great parade
ground back of the palace, which is so wide and long that all my army
can march round and round in it without getting into its own way; and
that ought to be big enough."

"Yes," said the soldier, "it is." Thereupon he put on his feather cap
and disappeared from the sight of all as quickly as one might snuff out
a candle.

He mounted his three-legged stool and away he flew through the air until
he had come again to the tavern where he was lodging. There he sat him
down and began to churn his thoughts, and the butter he made was worth
the having, I can tell you. He wished for a grand palace of white
marble, and then he wished for all sorts of things to fill it--the
finest that could be had. Then he wished for servants in clothes of gold
and silver, and then he wished for fine horses and gilded coaches.
Then he wished for gardens and orchards and lawns and flower-plats and
fountains, and all kinds and sorts of things, until the sweat ran down
his face from hard thinking and wishing. And as he thought and wished,
all the things he thought and wished for grew up like soap-bubbles from
nothing at all.

Then, when day began to break, he wished himself with his fine clothes
to be in the palace that his own wits had made, and away he flew through
the air until he had come there safe and sound.

But when the sun rose and shone down upon the beautiful palace and all
the gardens and orchards around it, the king and queen and all the court
stood dumb with wonder at the sight. Then, as they stood staring, the
gates opened and out came th