ent back into the room and closed the door.

The next day the Princess called the guards and bade them carry the
lad away and cut the head from his shoulders.

"Wait a bit," said the lad. "Do not be in such a hurry. First we must
appear before thy father the King; he must decide in this case, and it
may be I have something to tell him that will be worth the hearing."

The Princess could not refuse this, so she and the lad were brought
before the King, and the lad began to tell his story. When he came to
the part where the great black Demon had come and flown away with the
Princess she turned first as red as blood and then as pale as death.

"It is not true!" she cried, but the King bade her be silent.

Then the lad told how they had flown through the gardens. "It is all a
wicked lie," moaned the Princess, but the lad drew forth the twigs he
had broken from the trees and showed them to the King as proof of his
truth.

After that the lad told of how they had entered the castle, and how
the King Demon had tried to kiss the Princess, and of the shattered
goblet and the uneaten feast, and he had the splinter of crystal and
the spoon and fork to show, so the King knew it was all true, and the
Princess looked as though she wished she were dead.

Last of all he told how the Princess had returned on the Demon's
buckler, and how he had remained behind and cut off the King Demon's
head, and how the castle had fallen and the gardens had withered, and
all had become darkness and confusion.

When the Princess heard this she gave a shriek of joy. "Then you have
saved me!" she cried. "Never again need I fly forth at night at the
will of the Demon nor be his slave!"

Then it was her turn to tell her story. She told how one time the King
Demon had seen her walking in the palace gardens and had fallen in
love with her, and how he had used his magic to gain power over her.
She told how she hated him and feared him, but how against her will he
had forced her to come to visit him every night in his castle and had
sent the demon Lala to fetch her. But now that the King Demon was
dead, she was free, and it was the lad who had saved her.

When the King, her father, heard this, he marveled greatly. Glad was
he that such a brave lad was to be his son-in-law, for that was his
promise. The lad and the Princess were betrothed then and there, and
the King gave orders that a grand wedding feast should be prepared,
for they were to be marrie