their stead the humble hut in which Martin used to live with
his mother, and that while he slept her husband was to be carried to
his old lowly room; and that they were to bear her away to the utmost
ends of the earth, where an old King lived who would make her welcome
in his palace, and surround her with the state that befitted a royal
Princess.

[Illustration: The Princess Summons the Twelve Young Men.]

'You shall be obeyed,' answered the twelve youths at the same moment.
And lo and behold! the following morning, when the King awoke and
looked out of his window he beheld to his amazement that the palace,
bridge, church, and trees had all vanished, and there was nothing in
their place but a bare, miserable-looking hut.

Immediately the King sent for his son-in-law, and commanded him to
explain what had happened. But Martin looked at his royal
father-in-law, and answered never a word. Then the King was very
angry, and, calling a council together, he charged Martin with having
been guilty of witchcraft, and of having deceived the King, and having
made away with the Princess; and he was condemned to imprisonment in a
high stone tower, with neither meat nor drink, till he should die of
starvation.

Then, in the hour of his dire necessity, his old friends Schurka (the
dog) and Waska (the cat) remembered how Martin had once saved them
from a cruel death; and they took counsel together as to how they
should help him. And Schurka growled, and was of opinion that he would
like to tear everyone in pieces; but Waska purred meditatively, and
scratched the back of her ear with a velvet paw, and remained lost in
thought. At the end of a few minutes she had made up her mind, and,
turning to Schurka, said: 'Let us go together into the town, and the
moment we meet a baker you must make a rush between his legs and upset
the tray from off his head; I will lay hold of the rolls, and will
carry them off to our master.' No sooner said than done. Together the
two faithful creatures trotted off into the town, and very soon they
met a baker bearing a tray on his head, and looking round on all
sides, while he cried:

[Illustration: Schurka Upsets the Baker]

'Fresh rolls, sweet cake,
Fancy bread of every kind.
Come and buy, come and take,
Sure you'll find it to your mind.'

At that moment Schurka made a rush between his legs--the baker
stumbled, the tray was upset, the rolls fell to the ground, and, while