Then he went to the king and offered his services. Now the king had
heard that there was an old soldier who went about restoring the dead
to life, and he thought that Brother Merry must be just the man.
However, he had not much confidence in him, so he first consulted his
council, and they agreed that as the princess was certainly dead, the
old soldier might be allowed to see what he could do. Brother Merry
commanded them to bring him a caldron of water, and when every one had
left the room he separated the limbs, threw them into the caldron, and
made a fire under it, exactly as he had seen the saint do. When the
water boiled and the flesh fell from the bones, he took them and
placed them upon the table, but as he did not know how to arrange them
he piled them one upon another. Then he stood before them, and said--
"Thou dead, arise!" and he cried so three times, but all to no
purpose.
"Stand up, you vixen! stand up, or it shall be the worse for you," he
cried.
Scarcely had he repeated these words ere the saint came in at the
window, in the likeness of an old soldier, just as before, and said--
"You impious fellow! How can the dead stand up when you have thrown
the bones thus one upon another?"
"Ah! Brother Heart," answered Merry, "I have done it as well as I
can."
"I will help you out of your trouble this time," said the saint; "but
I tell you this, if you ever again undertake a job of this kind, you
will repent it, and for this you shall neither ask for nor take the
least thing from the king."
Having placed the bones in their proper order, the saint said three
times--
"Thou dead, arise!" and the princess stood up, sound and beautiful as
before. Then the saint immediately disappeared again out of the
window, and Brother Merry was glad that all had turned out so well.
One thing, however, grieved him sorely, and that was that he might
take nothing from the king.
"I should like to know," thought he, "what Brother Heart had to
grumble about. What he gives with one hand he takes with the other.
There is no wit in that."
The king asked Brother Merry what he would have, but the soldier durst
not take anything. However, he managed by hints and cunning that the
king should fill his knapsack with money, and with that he journeyed
on. When he came out of the palace door, however, he found the saint
standing there, who said--
"See what a man you are. Have I not forbidden you to take anything,
and yet y
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