blood in
your veins.'

But the prince still had his reasons for being silent, and only told
the same story. However, the king had taken such a fancy to the youth
that he said no more, and the marriage took place the following day,
and great herds of cattle and a large estate were given to the young
couple.

* * * * *

After a little while the prince said to his wife: 'My life is in the
hands of three creatures--a crocodile, a serpent, and a dog.'

'Ah, how rash you are!' cried the princess, throwing her arms round
his neck. 'If you know that, how can you have that horrid beast about
you? I will give orders to have him killed at once.'

But the prince would not listen to her.

'Kill my dear little dog, who has been my playfellow since he was a
puppy?' exclaimed he. 'Oh, never would I allow that.' And all that the
princess could get from him was that he would always wear a sword, and
have somebody with him when he left the palace.

When the prince and princess had been married a few months, the prince
heard that his stepmother was dead, and his father was old and ill,
and longing to have his eldest son by his side again. The young man
could not remain deaf to such a message, and he took a tender farewell
of his wife, and set out on his journey home. It was a long way, and
he was forced to rest often on the road, and so it happened that, one
night, when he was sleeping in a city on the banks of the great river,
a huge crocodile came silently up and made its way along a passage to
the prince's room. Fortunately one of his guards woke up as it was
trying to steal past them, and shut the crocodile up in a large hall,
where a giant watched over it, never leaving the spot except during
the night, when the crocodile slept. And this went on for more than a
month.

[Illustration: THE PRINCESS AND THE SNAKE]

Now, when the prince found that he was not likely to leave his
father's kingdom again, he sent for his wife, and bade the messenger
tell her that he would await her coming in the town on the banks of
the great river. This was the reason why he delayed his journey so
long, and narrowly escaped being eaten by the crocodile. During the
weeks that followed the prince amused himself as best he could, though
he counted the minutes to the arrival of the princess, and when she
did come, he at once prepared to start for the court. That very night,
however, while he was asleep, the princess