ite the heart to kill
the Princess and her baby outright, but he had them put in a huge
brass-bound chest and thrust out to sea, that they might either be
drowned or starved, or perhaps come to a country where they would be out
of his way.

So the Princess and the baby floated and drifted in the chest on the sea
all day and night, but the baby was not afraid of the waves nor of the
wind, for he did not know that they could hurt him, and he slept quite
soundly. And the Princess sang a song over him, and this was her song:

"Child, my child, how sound you sleep!
Though your mother's care is deep,
You can lie with heart at rest
In the narrow brass-bound chest;
In the starless night and drear
You can sleep, and never hear
Billows breaking, and the cry
Of the night-wind wandering by;
In soft purple mantle sleeping
With your little face on mine,
Hearing not your mother weeping
And the breaking of the brine."

Well, the daylight came at last, and the great chest was driven by the
waves against the shore of an island. There the brass-bound chest lay,
with the Princess and her baby in it, till a man of that country came
past, and saw it, and dragged it on to the beach, and when he had broken
it open, behold! there was a beautiful lady and a little boy. So he took
them home, and was very kind to them, and brought up the boy till he was
a young man. Now when the boy had come to his full strength the King of
that country fell in love with his mother, and wanted to marry her, but
he knew that she would never part from her boy. So he thought of a plan
to get rid of the boy, and this was his plan: A great Queen of a country
not far off was going to be married, and this king said that all his
subjects must bring him wedding presents to give her. And he made a
feast to which he invited them all, and they all brought their presents;
some brought gold cups, and some brought necklaces of gold and amber,
and some brought beautiful horses; but the boy had nothing, though he
was the son of a princess, for his mother had nothing to give him. Then
the rest of the company began to laugh at him, and the King said: "If
you have nothing else to give, at least you might go and fetch the
Terrible Head."

The boy was proud, and spoke without thinking:

"Then I swear that I _will_ bring the Terrible Head, if it may be
brought by a living man. But of what head you speak I know not."

Then they told him that somewher