They replied that they did n't care a bit what he thought . After Ring had been with the King for some days the latter began to think there was a great deal in him , and esteemed him more than the others . The King , however , had a counsellor called Red , who became very jealous when he saw how much the King esteemed Ring ; and one day he talked to him , and said he could not understand why he had so good an opinion of this stranger , who had not yet shown himself superior to other men in anything . The King replied that it was only a short time since he had come there . Red then asked him to send them both to cut down wood next morning , and see which of them could do most work . Snati-Snati heard this and told it to Ring , advising him to ask the King for two axes , so that he might have one in reserve if the first one got broken . Next morning the King asked Ring and Red to go and cut down trees for him , and both agreed . Ring got the two axes , and each went his own way ; but when the Prince had got out into the wood Snati took one of the axes and began to hew along with him . In the evening the King came to look over their day 's work , as Red had proposed , and found that Ring 's wood-heap was more than twice as big . ' I suspected , ' said the King , ` that Ring was not quite useless ; never have I seen such a day 's work . ' Ring was now in far greater esteem with the King than before , and Red was all the more discontented . One day he came to the King and said , ` If Ring is such a mighty man , I think you might ask him to kill the wild oxen in the wood here , and flay them the same day , and bring you the horns and the hides in the evening . ' ` Do n't you think that a desperate errand ? ' said the King , ` seeing they are so dangerous , and no one has ever yet ventured to go against them ? ' Red answered that he had only one life to lose , and it would be interesting to see how brave he was ; besides , the King would have good reason to ennoble him if he overcame them . The King at last allowed himself , though rather unwillingly , to be won over by Red 's persistency , and one day asked Ring to go and kill the oxen that were in the wood for him , and bring their horns and hides to him in the evening . Not knowing how dangerous the oxen were , Ring was quite ready , and went off at once , to the great delight of Red , who was now sure of his death . As soon as Ring came in sight of the oxen they came bellowing to meet him ; one of them was tremendously big , the other rather less . Ring grew terribly afraid . ` How do you like them ? '
asked XXXXX .
Prince Red Snati Snati-Snati day days evening first persistency wood-heap