Page:The Allies Fairy Book.djvu/129

 exclaimed: “Oh, sir, how did you contrive to get in here?” The young man replied that he was her brother, and told her by what means he had been able to pass through the doors. In return, she told him how happy she was, except for one thing, and that was, her husband lay under a spell, and could never break it till there should be put to death a man who could not die. They talked together for a long time, and then the lady said he had better leave her as she expected her husband back at any moment, and he might not like him to be there; but the young man assured her she need not be afraid, as he had with him a cap which would make him invisible. They were still deep in conversation when the door suddenly opened, and a bird flew in, but he saw nothing unusual, for, at the first noise, the youth had put on his cap. The lady jumped up and brought a large golden basin, into which the bird flew, reappearing directly after as a handsome man. Turning to his wife, he cried: “I am sure some one is in the room!” She got frightened, and declared that she was quite alone, but her husband persisted, and in the end she had to confess the truth.

“But if he is really your brother, why did you hide him?” asked he. “I believe you are telling me a lie, and if he comes back I shall kill him!”

At this the youth took off his cap, and came forward. Then the husband saw that he was indeed so like his wife that he doubted her word no longer, and embraced his brother-in-law with delight. Drawing a feather from his bird’s skin, he said: “If you are in danger and cry, ‘Come and help me, King of the Birds,’ everything will go well with you.”

The young man thanked him and went away, and after he had left the castle he told the boots that they must take him to the place where his second sister was living. As before, he found himself at the gates of a huge castle, and