fought; Geirald and Rosald
should meet singly two knights of the king's court, and he who could
unhorse his foe should be master of herself and of her kingdom. The
combat was fixed to take place at ten o'clock the following day.

All night long Geirald walked about his room, not daring to face the
fight that lay in front of him, and trying with all his might to
discover some means of escaping it. All night long he moved restlessly
from door to window; and when the trumpets sounded, and the combatants
rode into the field, he alone was missing. The king sent messengers to
see what had become of him, and he was found, trembling with fear,
hiding under his bed. After that there was no need of any further
proof. The combat was declared unnecessary, and the queen pronounced
herself quite satisfied, and ready to accept Rosald as her husband.

'You forgot one thing,' she said, when they were alone. 'I recognised
my father's ring which Hankur the Tall had stolen, on the finger of
your right hand, and I knew that it was you and not Geirald who had
slain the robber band. _I_ was the page who fought you, and again I
saw the ring on your finger, though it was absent from his when he
stood before me to claim the prize. That was why I ordered the combat
between you, though your faith to your word prevented my plan being
successful, and I had to try another. The man who keeps his promise
at all costs to himself is the man I can trust, both for myself and
for my people.'

So they were married, and returned to their own kingdom, which they
ruled well and happily. And many years after a poor beggar knocked at
the palace gates and asked for money, for the sake of days gone
by--and this was Geirald.

[From _Neuislaendischen Volksmaerchen_.]

_HABOGI_

Once upon a time there lived two peasants who had three daughters,
and, as generally happens, the youngest was the most beautiful and the
best tempered, and when her sisters wanted to go out she was always
ready to stay at home and do their work.

Years passed quickly with the whole family, and one day the parents
suddenly perceived that all three girls were grown up, and that very
soon they would be thinking of marriage.

'Have you decided what your husband's name is to be?' said the father,
laughingly, to his eldest daughter, one evening when they were all
sitting at the door of their cottage. 'You know that is a very
important point!'

'Yes; I will never wed any man who