his servants to bid his troop of sepoys shoot him.

So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and
he took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any
one who let his horse escape.

Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up
the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of
the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must
put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such
as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the
sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my
back." Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies'
country, so he could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor
any of his people knew this. When all was ready, Katar burst out of
his stable, with the prince on his back, rushed past the King himself
before the King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great
jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw his horse
had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy distinctly. The
sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast;
and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Then the King had
to give it up and go home; and his sepoys went to their homes. The
King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse escape,
for he himself had let him do so.

Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they
stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and
the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they
started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in
another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father,
but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my
back." Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle;
take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with
your sword and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some
poor, common clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was
dressed in them the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I
will take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain,
so that when you want me you will always find me. You must now go away
and find service with some one in this country." This made the boy
very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said. "What shall I do