heart he dismounted from his horse, and put the three fishes back again
into the water. They quivered all over with joy, stretched out their
heads, and called out to him,

"We will remember and reward thee, because thou hast delivered us." He
rode on, and after a while he heard a small voice come up from the sand
underneath his horse's feet. He listened, and understood how an ant-king
was complaining,

"If only these men would keep off, with their great awkward beasts! here
comes this stupid horse treading down my people with his hard hoofs!"

The man then turned his horse to the side-path, and the ant-king called
out to him,

"We will remember and reward thee!"

The path led him through a wood, and there he saw a father-raven and
mother-raven standing by their nest and throwing their young ones out.

"Off with you! young gallows-birds!" cried they; "we cannot stuff you
any more; you are big enough to fend for yourselves!" The poor young
ravens lay on the ground, fluttering, and beating the air with their
pinions, and crying,

"We are poor helpless things, we cannot fend for ourselves, we cannot
even fly! we can only die of hunger!"

Then the kind young man dismounted, killed his horse with his dagger,
and left it to the young ravens for food. They came hopping up, feasted
away at it, and cried,

"We will remember and reward thee!"

So now he had to use his own legs, and when he had gone a long way he
came to a great town. There was much noise and thronging in the streets,
and there came a man on a horse, who proclaimed,

"That the King's daughter seeks a husband, but he who wishes to marry
her must perform a difficult task, and if he cannot carry it through
successfully, he must lose his life."

Many had already tried, but had lost their lives, in vain. The young
man, when he saw the King's daughter, was so dazzled by her great
beauty, that he forgot all danger, went to the King and offered himself
as a wooer.

Then he was led to the sea-side, and a gold ring was thrown into the
water before his eyes. Then the King told him that he must fetch the
ring up again from the bottom of the sea, saying,

"If you come back without it, you shall be put under the waves again and
again until you are drowned."

Every one pitied the handsome young man, but they went, and left him
alone by the sea. As he was standing on the shore and thinking of what
he should do, there came three fishes swimming by, none other tha