How To Win A Prince

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Title:     How To Win A Prince
Author: P. Chr. Asbjornsen [More Titles by Asbjornsen]

"Once on a time there was a king's son who made love to a lass, but after they had become great friends and were as good as betrothed, the prince began to think little of her, and he got it into his head that she wasn't clever enough for him, and so he wouldn't have her.

"So he thought how he might be rid of her; and at last he said he would take her to wife all the same, if she could come to him--

'Not driving,
And not riding;
Not walking,
And not carried;
Not fasting,
And not full-fed;
Not naked,
And not clad;
Not in the daylight,
And not by night.'

"For all that he fancied she could never do.

"So she took three barleycorns and swallowed them, and then she was not fasting, and yet not full-fed; and next she threw a net over her, and so she was

'Not naked,
And yet not clad.'

Next she got a ram and sat on him, so that her feet touched the ground; and so she waddled along, and was

'Not driving,
And not riding;
Not walking,
And not carried.'

And all this happened in the twilight, betwixt night and day.

"So when she came to the guard at the palace, she begged that she might have leave to speak with the prince; but they wouldn't open the gate, she looked such a figure of fun.

"But for all that the noise woke up the prince, and he went to the window to see what it was.

"So she waddled up to the window, and twisted off one of the ram's horns, and took it and rapped with it against the window.

"And so they had to let her in, and have her for their princess."

[The end]
P. Chr. Asbjornsen's short story: How To Win A Prince

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