orge was so tired out by the fight that he laid down to sleep with
his head in the princess's lap, and she parted his hair with her hands
and saw the star on his brow.

Meanwhile the king's marshal, who was to have married the princess if
he would slay the dragon, had been watching the fight from afar off;
and when he saw that the dragon had been slain and that George was
lying asleep after the fight, he crept up behind the princess and,
drawing his dagger, said, "Put his head on the ground or else I will
slay thee." And when she had done that he bade her rise and come with
him after he had collected the seven heads of the dragon and strung
them on the leash of his whip. The princess would have wakened George
but the marshal threatened to kill her if she did. "If I cannot wed
thee he shall not." And then he made her swear that she would say that
the marshal had slain the Dragon with the Seven Heads. And when the
princess and the marshal came near the city the king and his courtiers
and all his people came out to meet them with great rejoicing, and the
king said to his daughter, "Who saved thee?" and she said, "this man."
"Then he shall marry thee," said the king. "No, no, father," said the
princess, "I am not old enough to marry yet; give me, at any rate, a
year and a day before the wedding takes place," for she hoped that
George would come and save her from the wicked marshal. The king
himself, who loved his daughter greatly, gave way at last and promised
that she should not be married for a year and a day.

When George awoke and saw the dead body and found the princess there
no longer he did not know what to make of it but thought that she did
not wish to marry a fisherman's son. So he mounted his horse, and with
his faithful hound went on seeking further adventures through the
world, and did not come that way again till a year had passed, when he
rode into Middlegard again and alighted at the same inn where he had
stopped before. "How now, hostess," he cried, "last time I was here
the city was all in mourning but now everything is agog with glee;
trumpets are blaring, lads and lasses are dancing round the trees, and
every house has flags and banners flowing from its windows. What is
happening?" "Know you not, sir," said the hostess, "that our princess
marries to-morrow?" "Why, last time," he said, "she was going to be
devoured by the Dragon with Seven Heads." "Nay, but he was slain by
the king's marshal who weds the