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 around him, and set out to see it with his own eyes.

"How dare you," said he to the soldier, "write this when you cannot prove it?" "Money will buy everything," replied the soldier.

The king became excited, and said again: "You shall prove what you say, upon my word! Take all the money you need from my treasury, and if you can prove your words within two years you may marry my daughter but if you cannot you shall lose your life. I will lock her up so securely that no one can enter her room. If you can manage, by means of gold, to open the doors and talk with her, I shall believe what you wrote on the wall."

There the soldier stood, realizing that he was in a sad scrape. There was nothing to do, however, but to try his best, for the king had given the order, and it was useless to evade it. If he did nothing he would be hanged; such was the king's decree, and kings always keep their word.

The princess was now placed in a firm tower built of rocks, and her father told her to stay there until the two years had passed. There was only one small window in the room where she lived, and no one but the king possessed the key of the iron-clad door behind which she sat.

Time passed, and the soldier determined to do something. He went into the treasury, and took all the gold and silver that he was able to carry