Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/203

 Collectanea. 193

"Now," said the youngest daughter to the king's son, "here are reins, and whatever horse will put her head into this reins, take that horse with you."

When he went with the reins it was the worst horse in the stable that was putting in its head to the reins. And he would beat it back till he could find a good one. But all the same it was the bad horse that he had to take with him.

" Now," said the daughter, " if I were to do anything wrong to my father you might think of me badly yet."

" No," he said " I will do all that I can for you."

She got behind him on the horse, and the horse went as fast as he could. When they were going awhile, she said, " Look behind and see if there is any one coming."

"There is," he said.

She looked then and said, " My father is coming and his army after us. Look again," she said, "and see are they coming near."

"They are very near now," he said.

" Put your hand in the horse's ear," she said, " and see if there is anything in it."

"There is nothing in it but a drop of sweat," he said.

" Take that drop of sweat and throw it behind us. But let it not fall on me or on you."

When he threw the drop behind, there was a large sea between them and the father and his soldiers.

So the father had to turn home to get a little dish to teem three dishes of water from the sea, and the sea then was empty. He then came on faster. The king's son and the daughter were a good way in front when the sea was dry. Then she told him to see if there was anything in the horse's ear, and he said there was a little nut. She told him to throw it behind them and there would be a great wood between them and her father. The father had then to turn home for a hatchet to give three blows to one tree, and then the forest was cut away.

She said, " If I do any wrong to my father, you may not think of me hereafter." He said, " I will never forget you."

"Now," she said, "there is a tree here, and there is a duck within the tree, and an egg in the duck. And here is a little