will have to make haste if you mean to go with me,' said the West
Wind; and away it went over hill and dale, and moor and morass, and
Halvor had enough to do to keep up with it.

'Well, now I have no time to stay with you any longer,' said the West
Wind, 'for I must first go and tear down a bit of spruce fir before I go
to the bleaching-ground to dry the clothes; but just go along the side
of the hill, and you will come to some girls who are standing there
washing clothes, and then you will not have to walk far before you are
at Soria Moria Castle.'

Shortly afterwards Halvor came to the girls who were standing washing,
and they asked him if he had seen anything of the West Wind, who was to
come there to dry the clothes for the wedding.

'Yes,' said Halvor, 'he has only gone to break down a bit of spruce fir.
It won't be long before he is here.' And then he asked them the way to
Soria Moria Castle. They put him in the right way, and when he came in
front of the castle it was so full of horses and people that it swarmed
with them. But Halvor was so ragged and torn with following the West
Wind through bushes and bogs that he kept on one side, and would not
go among the crowd until the last day, when the feast was to be held at
noon.

So when, as was the usage and custom, all were to drink to the bride and
the young girls who were present, the cup-bearer filled the cup for each
in turn, both bride and bridegroom, and knights and servants, and at
last, after a very long time, he came to Halvor. He drank their health,
and then slipped the ring which the Princess had put on his finger
when they were sitting by the waterside into the glass, and ordered the
cup-bearer to carry the glass to the bride from him and greet her.

Then the Princess at once rose up from the table, and said, 'Who is most
worthy to have one of us--he who has delivered us from the Trolls or he
who is sitting here as bridegroom?'

There could be but one opinion as to that, everyone thought, and when
Halvor heard what they said he was not long in flinging off his beggar's
rags and arraying himself as a bridegroom.

'Yes, he is the right one,' cried the youngest Princess when she caught
sight of him; so she flung the other out of the window and held her
wedding with Halvor.(2)

(2) From P. C. Asbjornsen.

THE DEATH OF KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS

IN a certain kingdom there lived a Prince Ivan. He had three sisters.
The first was the Princess Mar