from whence he saw to his joy that his three weavers had woven a net
round the moth on all sides, from which it could not hope to escape, if
the magician possessed the power which he pretended. The man in the tree
did his best to keep awake, but nevertheless his eyes closed all at
once. How long he slept he knew not, but he was roused up by a great
noise. When he looked round, he saw that the soldiers on guard were
running about the apple-tree like ants, and shouting, and in the tree
sat an old grey-bearded man with a golden apple in his hand in an iron
net. Sharpeye jumped hastily from his tree, but before he reached the
apple-tree the king himself arrived. He had sprung from his bed at the
shouts of the guards, and hurried to see what unusual event was
happening in the garden. There sat the thief in the tree, and could not
get away. "Most noble king," said Sharpeye, "you can now go quietly to
rest again, and sleep till to-morrow morning, for the thief cannot now
escape us. If he was as strong again as he is, he could not break the
magic meshes of his cage." The king thanked him, and ordered the greater
part of the soldiers to retire to rest also, leaving only a few on guard
under the tree. Sharpeye, who had kept watch for two nights and two
days, also went away to sleep.

Next morning the magician went to the king's palace. He was glad when he
saw the thief in the cage, and would not let him out till the fellow
showed himself in his real form. At last he cut off half his beard under
his chin, called for a light and began to singe the hairs.[9] Oh, how
the bird in the iron cage suffered now! He shrieked pitifully and beat
himself with pain, but the magician went on singeing fresh hairs to make
the thief manageable. At last he said, "Confess who you are." The fellow
answered, "I am the servant of the sorcerer Piirisilla,[10] who sent me
here to steal." The magician began again to singe the hairs. "Ow! ow!"
shouted the sorcerer; "give me time and I will confess. I am not the
servant, but the sorcerer's son." Again they singed his hairs, when the
prisoner yelled out, "I'm the sorcerer Piirisilla himself." "Show
yourself in your proper form or I'll singe you again," said the mighty
magician. Then the little man in the cage began to expand, and grew in a
few minutes to the size of an ordinary man, who could have carried off a
golden apple easily. He was taken down from the tree in the cage, and
asked where the stolen apples