people were gathered at the foot of the gallows to see the youth hanged.
Once more he asked a favour--permission to play on his fiddle, and this
the king was graciously pleased to grant. But with the first notes, the
leg of every man in the crowd was lifted high, and they danced to the
sound of the music the whole day till darkness fell, and there was no
light to hang the musician by.

The third day came, and the youth asked leave to play on his flute. 'No,
no,' said the king, 'you made me dance all day yesterday, and if I do
it again it will certainly be my death. You shall play no more tunes.
Quick! the rope round his neck.'

At these words the young man looked so sorrowful that the courtiers said
to the king: 'He is very young to die. Let him play a tune if it will
make him happy.' So, very unwillingly, the king gave him leave; but
first he had himself bound to a big fir tree, for fear that he should be
made to dance.

When he was made fast, the young man began to blow softly on his flute,
and bound though he was, the king's body moved to the sound, up and
down the fir tree till his clothes were in tatters, and the skin nearly
rubbed off his back. But the youth had no pity, and went on blowing,
till suddenly the old magician appeared and asked: 'What danger are you
in, my son, that you have sent for me?'

'They want to hang me,' answered the young man; 'the gallows are all
ready and the hangman is only waiting for me to stop playing.'

'Oh, I will put that right,' said the magician; and taking the gallows,
he tore it up and flung it into the air, and no one knows where it came
down. 'Who has ordered you to be hanged?' asked he.

The young man pointed to the king, who was still bound to the fir; and
without wasting words the magician took hold of the tree also, and
with a mighty heave both fir and man went spinning through the air, and
vanished in the clouds after the gallows.

Then the youth was declared to be free, and the people elected him for
their king; and the stable helper drowned himself from envy, for, after
all, if it had not been for him the young man would have remained poor
all the days of his life.

[From Finnische Mahrchen.]

The Strong Prince

Once upon a time there lived a king who was so fond of wine that he
could not go to sleep unless he knew he had a great flaskful tied to his
bed-post. All day long he drank till he was too stupid to attend to his
business, and everything in th