with a bundle in his
hand.

[Illustration: How the King's Son saved the Raven from the Snake

by H. J. Ford 1910]

'Is there a raven hereabouts?' asked the king's son, and the youth
answered:

'I am that raven, and I was delivered by thee from the spells that bound
me, and in reward thou wilt get this bundle. Go back by the road thou
camest, and lie as before, a night in each house, but be careful not to
unloose the bundle till thou art in the place wherein thou wouldst most
wish to dwell.'

Then the king's son set out, and thus it happened as it had happened
before, till he entered a thick wood near his father's house. He had
walked a long way, and suddenly the bundle seemed to grow heavier; first
he put it down under a tree, and next he thought he would look at it.

The string was easy to untie, and the king's son soon unfastened the
bundle. What was it he saw there? Why, a great castle with an orchard
all about it, and in the orchard fruit and flowers and birds of every
kind. It was all ready for him to dwell in, but instead of being in the
midst of the forest, he _did_ wish he had left the bundle unloosed till
he had reached the green valley close to his father's palace. Well, it
was no use wishing, and with a sigh he glanced up, and beheld a huge
giant coming towards him.

* * * * *

'Bad is the place where thou hast built thy house, king's son,' said the
giant.

'True; it is not here that I wish it to be,' answered the king's son.

'What reward wilt thou give me if I put it back in the bundle?' asked
the giant.

'What reward dost thou ask?' answered the king's son.

'The first boy thou hast when he is seven years old,' said the giant.

'If I have a boy thou shalt get him,' answered the king's son, and as he
spoke the castle and the orchard were tied up in the bundle again.

'Now take thy road, and I will take mine,' said the giant. 'And if thou
forgettest thy promise, _I_ will remember it.'

Light of heart the king's son went on his road, till he came to the
green valley near his father's palace. Slowly he unloosed the bundle,
fearing lest he should find nothing but a heap of stones or rags. But
no! all was as it had been before, and as he opened the castle door
there stood within the most beautiful maiden that ever was seen.

'Enter, king's son,' said she, 'all is ready, and we will be married at
once,' and so they were.

The maiden proved a good wife, and the