chers turned towards the queen, expecting to see her
stoop and give some token to the victor. Instead, to the surprise
of everyone, she merely smiled gracefully, and said that before she
bestowed her hand one more test must be imposed, but this should be the
last. The final tourney should be fought; Geirald and Rosald should meet
singly two knights of the king's court, and he who could unhorse his foe
should be master of herself and of her kingdom. The combat was fixed to
take place at ten o'clock the following day.

All night long Geirald walked about his room, not daring to face
the fight that lay in front of him, and trying with all his might to
discover some means of escaping it. All night long he moved restlessly
from door to window; and when the trumpets sounded, and the combatants
rode into the field, he alone was missing. The king sent messengers
to see what had become of him, and he was found, trembling with fear,
hiding under his bed. After that there was no need of any further proof.
The combat was declared unnecessary, and the queen pronounced herself
quite satisfied, and ready to accept Rosald as her husband.

'You forgot one thing,' she said, when they were alone. 'I recognized
my father's ring which Hankur the Tall had stolen, on the finger of your
right hand, and I knew that it was you and not Geirald who had slain the
robber band. I was the page who fought you, and again I saw the ring on
your finger, though it was absent from his when he stood before me to
claim the prize. That was why I ordered the combat between you, though
your faith to your word prevented my plan being successful, and I had
to try another. The man who keeps his promise at all costs to himself is
the man I can trust, both for myself and for my people.'

So they were married, and returned to their own kingdom, which they
ruled well and happily. And many years after a poor beggar knocked at
the palace gates and asked for money, for the sake of days gone by--and
this was Geirald.

[From Neuislandischem Volksmarcher.]

Habogi

Once upon a time there lived two peasants who had three daughters, and,
as generally happens, the youngest was the most beautiful and the best
tempered, and when her sisters wanted to go out she was always ready to
stay at home and do their work.

Years passed quickly with the whole family, and one day the parents
suddenly perceived that all three girls were grown up, and that very
soon they woul