“Now I must set off too,” said Boots;
“if I only knew how to find the way.”
He took a long farewell of the Princess, and when he
slipped out of the Giant’s door, there stood
the Wolf waiting for him. Boots told him all
that had happened, and said now he wished to ride to
the well inside the church, if only he knew the way.
The Wolf bade him jump on his back, and away they
went, over hill and dale, over hedge and field, till
the wind whistled after them. After they had travelled
many, many days, they came at last to the lake.
Then the Prince did not know how to get across, but
the Wolf bade him not to be afraid, but to hold fast.
So he jumped into the lake with the Prince on his
back, and swam over to the island. When they
came to the church, the church keys hung high, high
up on the top of the tower, and the Prince knew not
how to get them down.
“Call upon the raven,” said the Wolf.
So the Prince called upon the raven, and immediately
the raven came, and flew up and fetched the keys,
and so the Prince got into the church. When he
came to the well, there was the duck, which swam about
forward and backward, just as the Giant had said.
So the Prince stood and coaxed it and coaxed it, till
finally it came to him, and he grasped it in his hand;
but just as he lifted it up from the water the duck
dropped the egg in the well, and then Boots was beside
himself to know how to get it out again.
“Now call upon the salmon,” said the Wolf,
and Boots called upon the salmon, and the salmon came
and fetched up the egg from the bottom of the well.
Then the Wolf told him to squeeze the egg, and as
soon as he squeezed the egg, the Giant screamed and
begged and prayed to be spared, saying he would do
all that the Prince wished if he would only not squeeze
his heart in two.
“Tell him to restore to life again your six
brothers and their brides, whom he has turned to stone,”
said the Wolf. Yes, the Giant was ready to do
that, and he turned the six brothers into king’s
sons again, and their brides into king’s daughters.
Then Boots left the Giant’s heart on the altar
of the church. That took all the evil power from
the cruel Giant, and I have never heard of him since.
And now, Boots rode back again on the Wolf to the
Giant’s house, and there stood all his six brothers
alive and merry with their brides. Then Boots
went into the hillside after his bride, and they all
set off home again to their father’s house.
And you may fancy how glad the old King was when he
saw his seven sons come back, each with his bride;—“But
the loveliest bride is the bride of Boots, after all,”
said the King, “and he shall sit highest at
the table, with her by his side.”
So they had a great wedding feast, and the mirth was
both loud and long, and if they have not done feasting,
why they are at it still.
