m
all about her two cats, and how brave Gon had been, and how he had
delivered her from her enemy the serpent.

And when the prince heard, he swore they should never leave them, but
should go with the princess wherever she went. So it all fell out as
the princess wished; and Gon and Koma had many children, and so had the
princess, and they all played together, and were friends to the end of
their lives.

How the Dragon Was Tricked

From Griechtsche und Albanesische Marchen, von J. G. von Hahn. (Leipzig:
Engelmann. 1864.)

Once upon a time there lived a man who had two sons but they did not
get on at all well together, for the younger was much handsomer than his
elder brother who was very jealous of him. When they grew older, things
became worse and worse, and at last one day as they were walking through
a wood the elder youth seized hold of the other, tied him to a tree, and
went on his way hoping that the boy might starve to death.

However, it happened that an old and humpbacked shepherd passed the tree
with his flock, and seeing the prisoner, he stopped and said to him,
'Tell me, my son why are you tied to that tree?'

'Because I was so crooked,' answered the young man; 'but it has quite
cured me, and now my back is as straight as can be.'

'I wish you would bind me to a tree,' exclaimed the shepherd, 'so that
my back would get straight.'

'With all the pleasure in life,' replied the youth. 'If you will loosen
these cords I will tie you up with them as firmly as I can.'

This was soon done, and then the young man drove off the sheep, leaving
their real shepherd to repent of his folly; and before he had gone very
far he met with a horse boy and a driver of oxen, and he persuaded them
to turn with him and to seek for adventures.

By these and many other tricks he soon became so celebrated that his
fame reached the king's ears, and his majesty was filled with curiosity
to see the man who had managed to outwit everybody. So he commanded his
guards to capture the young man and bring him before him.

And when the young man stood before the king, the king spoke to him
and said, 'By your tricks and the pranks that you have played on other
people, you have, in the eye of the law, forfeited your life. But on one
condition I will spare you, and that is, if you will bring me the flying
horse that belongs to the great dragon. Fail in this, and you shall be
hewn in a thousand pieces.'

'If that is all,' said