But he answered, 'I cannot become your husband yet, for I have still far
to travel. But wait for me seven years and seven months. Then, if I do
not return, you are free to marry whom you will. And in case you should
have forgotten, I will take these seven tongues with me so that when I
bring them forth you may know that I am really he who slew the serpent.'

So saying he cut out the seven tongues, and the princess gave him a
thick cloth to wrap them in; and he mounted his horse and rode away.

Not long after he had gone there arrived at the river a slave who had
been sent by the king to learn the fate of his beloved daughter. And
when the slave saw the princess standing free and safe before him, with
the body of the monster lying at her feet, a wicked plan came into his
head, and he said, 'Unless you promise to tell your father it was I who
slew the serpent, I will kill you and bury you in this place, and no one
will ever know what befell.'

What could the poor girl do? This time there was no knight to come to
her aid. So she promised to do as the slave wished, and he took up the
seven heads and brought the princess to her father.

Oh, how enchanted the king was to see her again, and the whole town
shared his joy!

And the slave was called upon to tell how he had slain the monster, and
when he had ended the king declared that he should have the princess to
wife.

But she flung herself at her father's feet, and prayed him to delay.
'You have passed your royal word, and cannot go back from it Yet grant
me this grace, and let seven years and seven months go by before you
wed me. When they are over, then I will marry the slave.' And the king
listened to her, and seven years and seven months she looked for her
bridegroom, and wept for him night and day.

All this time the young man was riding through the world, and when the
seven years and seven months were over he came back to the town where
the princess lived--only a few days before the wedding. And he stood
before the king, and said to him: 'Give me your daughter, O king, for
I slew the seven-headed serpent. And as a sign that my words are true,
look on these seven tongues, which I cut from his seven heads, and on
this embroidered cloth, which was given me by your daughter.'

Then the princess lifted up her voice and said, 'Yes, dear father, he
has spoken the truth, and it is he who is my real bridegroom. Yet pardon
the slave, for he was sorely tempted.'

But