here, and was met with sweet words and kindness by the
second of the three lovely princesses. In that palace he killed a
snake with six heads. The Princess begged him to stay; but he told her
he had yet to find her eldest sister. At that she wished him the help
of God, and he left her, and went on further.

He walked and walked, and came at last to a palace of gold, glittering
in the light of the underworld. All happened as in the other palaces.
The eldest of the three daughters of the King met him with courtesy
and kindness. And he killed a snake with twelve heads and freed the
Princess from her imprisonment. The Princess rejoiced, and thanked
Sunrise, and set about her packing to go home.

And this was the way of her packing. She went out into the broad
courtyard and waved a scarlet handkerchief, and instantly the whole
palace, golden and glittering, and the kingdom belonging to it, became
little, little, little, till it went into a little golden egg. The
Princess tied the egg in a corner of her handkerchief, and set out
with Sunrise to join her sisters and go home to her father.

Her sisters did their packing in the same way. The silver palace and
its kingdom were packed by the second sister into a little silver egg.
And when they came to the copper palace, the youngest of the three
lovely princesses clapped her hands and kissed Sunrise on both his
cheeks, and waved a scarlet handkerchief, and instantly the copper
palace and its kingdom were packed into a little copper egg, shining
ruddy and green.

And so Sunrise and the three daughters of the King came to the foot of
the deep hole down which he had come into the underworld. And there
was the rope hanging with the loop at its end. And they sat in the
loop, and Evening and Midnight pulled them up one by one, rejoicing
together. Then the three brothers took, each of them, a princess with
him on his horse, and they all rode together back to the old King,
telling talcs and singing songs as they went. The Princess from the
golden palace rode with Evening on his horse of dusky brown; the
Princess from the silver palace rode with Midnight on his horse as
black as charcoal; but the Princess from the copper palace, the
youngest of them all, rode with Sunrise on his horse, white as a
summer cloud. Merry was the journey through the green forest, and
gladly they rode over the open plain, till they came at last to the
palace of her father.

There was the old King, sitting