In the morning the prince again awoke earliest, and, when he didn’t see the princess, woke Sharpsight.  “Hey! get up, Sharpsight! look where the princess is!” Sharpsight looked out for a long time.  “Oh, sir,” says he, “she is a long way off, a long way off!  Three hundred miles off is a black sea, and in the midst of the sea a shell on the bottom, and in the shell is a gold ring, and she’s the ring.  But never mind! we shall obtain her, but to-day Long must take Broad with him as well; we shall want him.”  Long took Sharpsight on one shoulder, and Broad on the other, and went thirty miles at a step.  When they came to the black sea, Sharpsight showed him where he must reach into the water for the shell.  Long extended his hand as far as he could, but could not reach the bottom.

“Wait, comrades! wait only a little and I’ll help you,” said Broad, and swelled himself out as far as his paunch would stretch; he then lay down on the shore and drank.  In a very short time the water fell so low that Long easily reached the bottom and took the shell out of the sea.  Out of it he extracted the ring, took his comrades on his shoulders and hastened back.  But on the way he found it a little difficult to run with Broad, who had half a sea of water inside him, so he cast him from his shoulder on to the ground in a wide valley.  Thump he went like a sack let fall from a tower, and in a moment the whole valley was under water like a vast lake.  Broad himself barely crawled out of it.

Meanwhile the prince was in great trouble in the castle.  The dawn began to display itself over the mountains, and his servants had not returned; the more brilliantly the rays ascended, the greater was his anxiety; a deadly perspiration came out upon his forehead.  Soon the sun showed itself in the east like a thin slip of flame—­and then with a loud crash the door flew open, and on the threshold stood the wizard.  He looked round the room, and seeing the princess was not there, laughed a hateful laugh and entered the room.  But just at that moment, pop! the window flew in pieces, the gold ring fell on the floor, and in an instant there stood the princess again.  Sharpsight, seeing what was going on in the castle, and in what danger his master was, told Long.  Long made a step, and threw the ring through the window into the room.  The wizard roared with rage till the castle quaked, and then, bang! went the third iron hoop that was round his waist, and sprang off him; the wizard turned into a raven, and flew out and away through the shattered window.

Then, and not till then, did the beautiful damsel speak and thank the prince for setting her free, and blushed like a rose.  In the castle and round the castle everything became alive again at once.  He who was holding in the hall the outstretched sword, swung it into the air, which whistled again, and then returned it to its sheath; he who was stumbling on the threshold, fell on the ground, but immediately