answered that
these shrieks were heard every night, but it was no living being who
uttered them; it was a dead man, who life the host had taken because
he could not pay for the meals he had had in the inn. The host further
refused to bury the dead man, as he had left nothing to pay the expenses
of the funeral, and every night he went and scourged the dead body of
his victim.

When she had said this she lifted the cover off one of the dishes, and
the prince saw that there lay on it a knife and an axe. He understood
then that the host meant to ask him by this what kind of death he
preferred to die, unless he was willing to ransom his life with his
money. He then summoned the host, gave him a large sum for his own life,
and paid the dead man's debt as well, besides paying him for burying the
body, which the murderer now promised to attend to.

The prince, however, felt that his life was not safe in this murderer's
den, and asked the maid to help him to escape that night. She replied
that the attempt to do so might cost her her own life, as the key of the
stable in which the prince's horse stood lay under the host's pillow;
but, as she herself was a prisoner there, she would help him to escape
if he would take her along with him. He promised to do so, and they
succeeded in getting away from the inn, and rode on until they came to
another far away from it, where the prince got a good place for the girl
before proceeding on his journey.

As he now rode all alone through a forest there met him a fox, who
greeted him in a friendly fashion, and asked him where he was going, and
on what errand he was bent. The prince answered that his errand was too
important to be confided to everyone that he met.

'You are right in that,' said the fox, 'for it relates to the bird Grip,
which you want to take and bring home to your blind father; I could help
you in this, but in that case you must follow my counsel.'

The prince thought that this was a good offer, especially as the fox was
ready to go with him and show him the way to the castle, where the bird
Grip sat in his cage, and so he promised to obey the fox's instructions.
When they had traversed the forest together they saw the castle at some
distance. Then the fox gave the prince three grains of gold, one of
which he was to throw into the guard-room, another into the room where
the bird Grip sat, and the third into its cage. He could then take the
bird, but he must beware of strok