Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/72

40 The traveling companion was beaming with delight when he got to know how successful Johannes had been; but Johannes folded his hands and thanked God, who, no doubt, would also help him on the second and third occasions. Next day the guessing was to begin again.

In the evening things happened in just the same way as on the previous one. When Johannes was asleep, the traveling companion flew behind the princess to the mountain and birched her still more than on the last occasion, for now he had taken two of the rods with him. No one saw him, while he heard everything. This time the princess was going to think of her glove, and this he told to Johannes, just as if it had come to him in a dream. Johannes was thus once more able to guess right, and there were in consequence great rejoicings at the palace. The whole court began turning somersaults, just as they had seen the king do on the first day, but the princess lay on a sofa and would not speak a word. All now depended on whether Johannes could guess right the third time. If all went well he would have the beautiful princess and inherit the whole kingdom when the old king was dead; if he guessed wrong he would lose his life, and the troll would eat his beautiful blue eyes.

The evening before the third trial Johannes went early to bed, said his prayers, and slept quite peacefully; but his companion fastened the wings to his back, and the sword to his side, and took all the three rods with him and flew off to the palace.

The night was pitch dark and a storm was raging, so that the tiles flew off the houses, and the trees in the garden, on which the skeletons were hanging, swung to and fro like reeds before the wind; every moment there were flashes of lightning and the thunder rolled as if in one continuous clap which lasted the whole of the night. The window was now thrown open and the princess flew out; she was as pale as death, but she laughed at the bad weather and thought it was not bad enough; her white cloak whirled round in the air like a large sail, but the traveling companion whipped her so hard with his three rods that the blood trickled down on the ground, and at last she was scarcely able to fly any farther. But at length she got to the mountain.

"It is hailing and blowing," she said; "never have I been out in such weather."

"Yes, one can have too much of a good thing," said the troll. The princess then told him that Johannes had guessed right again the second time; if he should succeed again the next day he would win, and she would never be able to come to him in the mountain any more, and never be able to try her hand at witchcraft as before; and therefore she was quite distressed in her mind.

"He shall not guess it," said the troll; "I will think of something that has never entered his head, or else he must be a greater troll than I. But now we will make merry! " And so he took the princess by both hands, and they danced round with all the little brownies and will-o'-the-wisps in