Pagina 354 de 626

He stood on the shore and considered what he should do, when

suddenly he saw three fishes come swimming towards him, and they

were the very fishes whose lives he had saved. The one in the

middle held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on the shore at

the youth's feet, and when he had taken it up and opened it,

there lay the gold ring in the shell. Full of joy he took it to

the king and expected that he would grant him the promised

reward.

But when the proud princess perceived that he was not her equal

in birth, she scorned him, and required him first to perform

another task. She went down into the garden and strewed with her

own hands ten sacksful of millet-seed on the grass; then she

said: 'Tomorrow morning before sunrise these must be picked up,

and not a single grain be wanting.'