Page:Danish fairy and folk tales.djvu/243

 "To be sure!" exclaimed the king. "Do you dare to engage in contest with the unicorn?" continued he, turning to the tailor. "I will give you two hundred gold pieces if you can manage to kill it!"

Now the tailor's dreams again awoke within him, and at this moment he did not remember that he had not really killed the giants. With sparkling eyes he turned to the king, exclaiming: "Your majesty, I shall kill the unicorn!"

The next day he was followed to the river by the whole court. The ferryman took him across the water, where he soon found himself in a forest, dense, wild, and desolate. No sooner was he left alone than the thought entered his head to turn back and run away from the danger, but in the same moment the unicorn burst through the bushes and came down upon him with glowing eyes, galloping wildly, and with the fearful frontal horn pointing to the very place where the tailor knew his heart was. There was no time even to think, and when the animal had come within four inches of him he swooned away and fell to the ground motionless. The monster, which came along at a furious rate, was, however, unable to stop. Like a fierce wind it passed him and ran its horn into the trunk of a large oak-tree with such a force that it was impossible to draw it back again. The tailor suffered no injury whatever. When he awoke from his swoon and found himself alive, the monster stood near him, kicking up the dust and leaves with its