Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/389

 Collectanea. 353

The Prince replies, — " Arise, let us see whether God will give me or you to be eaten." They take their bows and arrows to shoot at each other.

The demon says to the Prince, — "You shoot first," but the Prince says, " No, you shoot first." So the demon shoots, but the Prince stoops and the arrow passes over him. Then the Prince shoots his arrow and pierces the ribs of the demon, who falls to the earth, and half of the arrow sinks into the earth, nailing the demon's body to the ground. Then the Prince cuts off the demon's head, plucks off the ears, and thrusts them into his pocket."

He leaves that one there and goes a little further, and what does he see but another demon sleeping with his horrid head resting in the lap of a beautiful maiden. The maiden is embroidering, and a golden mink and a golden cock are playing about in a golden sieve. The maiden notices the Prince, and she says, — " Mortal, the serpent upon its belly and the fowl on its wings are not able to come hither. How have you come ? "

" Your love drew me," the Prince replies.

The maiden says, — " For your safety's sake, I beg you to escape before the demon wakes. If he should rise, your ear will be the largest bit of you left whole."

But the Prince says, — "Speak to him. Let him waken. I have come to fight against him."

Then the maiden says, — " If that is so, heat the iron cross- pieces and strike his feet with them, and the demon will waken."

The Prince heats the iron cross-pieces, and strikes the demon's feet with them. The demon claps his feet together, sits up, and cries, — " Oh, the fleas are biting me ! "

The maiden says, — " What black fleas they are ! Arise and see. This brave fellow has come to fight with you."

The demon glares at the Prince, and then exclaims, — " Oh, a mutton-chop has walked in here on its own feet ! "

The Prince replies, — " Arise, let us see whether God will give me or you, (whether it is to be you or I)." " Wallah," cries the Prince, and he nails this one to the ground also. He cuts off his head, plucks off his ears, and thrusts them into his pocket.

^In all these stories the ears of the victims are preserved as trophies, as the American Indians preserved the scalp-locks of their victims,

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