as brave as the bravest, and
as wise as the wisest. You have chosen the right horse, for without his
help you would have returned with a bent head and downcast eyes. You
have filled me with the hope that you may carry out the task you have
undertaken, but be careful to forget none of my counsels, and above all
to listen to those of your horse.'

When he had done speaking, the princess knelt down to receive his
blessing, and they went their different ways.

The princess rode on and on, till at last she came to the mountains
which hold up the roof of the world. There she met two Genii who had
been fighting fiercely for two years, without one having got the least
advantage over the other. Seeing what they took to be a young man
seeking adventures, one of the combatants called out, 'Fet-Fruners!
deliver me from my enemy, and I will give you the horn that can be
heard the distance of a three days' journey;' while the other cried,
'Fet-Fruners! help me to conquer this pagan thief, and you shall have my
horse, Sunlight.'

Before answering, the princess consulted her own horse as to which offer
she should accept, and he advised her to side with the genius who was
master of Sunlight, his own younger brother, and still more active than
himself.

So the girl at once attacked the other genius, and soon clove his skull;
then the one who was left victor begged her to come back with him to his
house and he would hand her over Sunlight, as he had promised.

The mother of the genius was rejoiced to see her son return safe and
sound, and prepared her best room for the princess, who, after so much
fatigue, needed rest badly. But the girl declared that she must first
make her horse comfortable in his stable; but this was really only an
excuse, as she wanted to ask his advice on several matters.

But the old woman had suspected from the very first that the boy who
had come to the rescue of her son was a girl in disguise, and told the
genius that she was exactly the wife he needed. The genius scoffed, and
inquired what female hand could ever wield a sabre like that; but, in
spite of his sneers, his mother persisted, and as a proof of what she
said, laid at night on each of their pillows a handful of magic flowers,
that fade at the touch of man, but remain eternally fresh in the fingers
of a woman.

It was very clever of her, but unluckily the horse had warned the
princess what to expect, and when the house was silent, she stole very