nce it came, and there above him sat the most beautiful
woman in the world.

'Come down,' he said, 'for a while thou canst stay in my house,' and
glad enough the girl was to come.

Now the king of the country was about to marry, and the young men about
the court thronged the shoemaker's shop to buy fine shoes to wear at the
wedding.

'Thou hast a pretty daughter,' said they when they beheld the girl
sitting at work.

'Pretty she is,' answered the shoemaker, 'but no daughter of mine.'

'I would give a hundred pounds to marry her,' said one.

'And I,' 'And I,' cried the others.

'That is no business of mine,' answered the shoemaker, and the young men
bade him ask her if she would choose one of them for a husband, and to
tell them on the morrow. Then the shoemaker asked her, and the girl said
that she would marry the one who would bring his purse with him. So the
shoemaker hurried to the youth who had first spoken, and he came back,
and after giving the shoemaker a hundred pounds for his news, he sought
the girl, who was waiting for him.

'Is it thou?' inquired she. 'I am thirsty, give me a drink from the well
that is out yonder.' And he poured out the water, but he could not move
from the place where he was; and there he stayed till many hours had
passed by.

'Take away that foolish boy,' cried the girl to the shoemaker at last,
'I am tired of him,' and then suddenly he was able to walk, and betook
himself to his home, but he did not tell the others what had happened to
him.

Next day there arrived one of the other young men, and in the evening,
when the shoemaker had gone out and they were alone, she said to him,
'See if the latch is on the door.' The young man hastened to do her
bidding, but as soon as he touched the latch, his fingers stuck to it,
and there he had to stay for many hours, till the shoemaker came back,
and the girl let him go. Hanging his head, he went home, but he told no
one what had befallen him.

Then was the turn of the third man, and _his_ foot remained fastened to
the floor, till the girl unloosed it. And thankfully he ran off, and was
not seen looking behind him.

* * * * *

'Take the purse of gold,' said the girl to the shoemaker, 'I have no
need of it, and it will better thee.' And the shoemaker took it and told
the girl he must carry the shoes for the wedding up to the castle.

'I would fain get a sight of the king's son before he marries,' sigh