ile, but through the continual movement
of the little creatures, and his not having slept during the previous
night, he soon fell sound asleep. When he woke again, the king had just
come into the barn, and was amazed to find that not only was the task
accomplished, but that Jesper had found time to take a nap as well.

'Wonderful,' said he; 'I couldn't have believed it possible. However,
the hardest is yet to come, as you will see to-morrow.'

Jesper thought so too when the next day's task was set before him. The
king's gamekeepers had caught a hundred live hares, which were to be let
loose in a large meadow, and there Jesper must herd them all day, and
bring them safely home in the evening: if even one were missing, he
must give up all thought of marrying the princess. Before he had quite
grasped the fact that this was an impossible task, the keepers had
opened the sacks in which the hares were brought to the field, and, with
a whisk of the short tail and a flap of the long ears, each one of the
hundred flew in a different direction.

'Now,' said the king, 'as he walked away, 'let's see what your
cleverness can do here.'

Jesper stared round him in bewilderment, and having nothing better to do
with his hands, thrust them into his pockets, as he was in the habit of
doing. Here he found something which turned out to be the whistle given
to him by the old woman. He remembered what she had said about the
virtues of the whistle, but was rather doubtful whether its powers
would extend to a hundred hares, each of which had gone in a different
direction and might be several miles distant by this time. However, he
blew the whistle, and in a few minutes the hares came bounding through
the hedge on all the four sides of the field, and before long were all
sitting round him in a circle. After that, Jesper allowed them to run
about as they pleased, so long as they stayed in the field.

The king had told one of the keepers to hang about for a little and see
what became of Jesper, not doubting, however, that as soon as he saw the
coast clear he would use his legs to the best advantage, and never
show face at the palace again. It was therefore with great surprise and
annoyance that he now learned of the mysterious return of the hares and
the likelihood of Jesper carrying out his task with success.

'One of them must be got out of his hands by hook or crook,' said he.
'I'll go and see the queen about it; she's good at devising pla