besides were needed; and two smiths, one to hammer and the other
to hold, and then they'd soon get the sun to shine into the palace
hall.

So when the lad asked for all these things, he got them at once--the
king couldn't say nay for very shame; and so Dapplegrim got new shoes,
and such shoes! Then the lad jumped upon his back, and off they went
again; and for every leap that Dapplegrim gave, down sank the ridge
fifteen feet into the earth, and so they went on till there was
nothing left of the ridge for the king to see.

When the lad got back to the king's palace, he asked the king if the
Princess was not his now; for now no one could say that the sun didn't
shine into the hall. But then the others whispered to the king again,
and he answered that the lad should have her, of course; he had never
thought of anything else; but first of all he must get as grand a
horse for the bride to ride on to church as the bridegroom had
himself.

The lad said the king hadn't spoken a word about this before, and that
he thought he had now fairly earned the Princess; but the king held to
his own; and more, if the lad couldn't do that he should lose his
life; that was what the king said. So the lad went down to the stable
in doleful dumps, as you may well fancy, and there he told Dapplegrim
all about it; how the king had laid that task upon him, to find the
bride as good a horse as the bridegroom had himself, else he would
lose his life.

"But that's not so easy," he said, "for your match isn't to be found
in the wide world."

"Oh, yes, I have a match," said Dapplegrim; "but he lives a long way
from here, and rules over a great country. Still, we'll try. And now
you must go up to the king and ask for new shoes for me, ten pounds of
iron and twelve pounds of steel; and two smiths, one to hammer and one
to hold; and mind you see that the points and ends of those shoes are
sharp; and twelve sacks of rye, and twelve sacks of barley, and twelve
roasted oxen we must have with us; and mind, we must have the twelve
ox-hides, with twelve hundred spikes driven into each; and, let me
see, a big tar-barrel--that's all we want."

So the lad went up to the king and asked for all that Dapplegrim
required, and the king again thought he couldn't say nay, for shame's
sake, and so the lad got all he wanted.

Well, he jumped up on Dapplegrim's back, and rode away from the
palace, and when he had ridden far over hill and heath, Dapple asked:

"D