Page:Danish fairy and folk tales.djvu/211

 the forest where the boy sat reading, and told him to enter and sit beside her. He complied, and away they drove—far away from the place where the Enemy had played his pranks. When they arrived at the wonderful palace south of the sun, west of the moon, and in the middle of the wind, he received a place among her servants, and finding him both good and true, she determined to marry him.

The young man could not, however, forget his old home. He told his fair young princess that if she would allow him to return for a short time to see how his parents were, he would be better prepared to live far away from them during the rest of his lifetime. He was longing to see his mother once more; no doubt she missed him and shed many tears for his sake, thinking that she would never see him again. The princess was pleased, and said: "It shall be as you desire. I will bring you home, and you may stay there until you long for me. Take this ring; when you wish to return, turn it; but do not wish me to come to you. In that case we shall both become unhappy!" Upon this they entered the golden carriage again, and drove on as rapidly as thoughts can travel, until they reached the small hut in the forest. As soon as the young man alighted the carriage disappeared, and had not the ring been gleaming on his finger he would have thought it all a dream.

When he entered his old home his parents were much astonished to see him; they had, of course,