And the king would fain have compelled him to mount in a litter and be carried straight to the palace , and two of his knights were to lead the black charger to the royal stables . But the prince put his hand on the mane of his faithful horse , and managed to pull himself up into the saddle , and the horse mounted into the air with him . Then they all shouted and cried : ` The warrior who has fought for us is a god ! He must be a god . ' And throughout all the kingdom nothing else was spoken about , and all the people said : ` Who can the hero be who has fought for us in so many battles ? He can not be a man , he must be a god . ' And the king said : ` If only I could see him once more , and if it turned out that after all he was a man and not a god , I would reward him with half my kingdom . ' Now when the prince reached his home -- the gardener 's hut where he lived with his wife -- he was weary , and he lay down on his bed and slept . And his wife noticed the handkerchief bound round his wounded leg , and she wondered what it could be . Then she looked at it more closely and saw in the corner that it was embroidered with her father 's name and the royal crown . So she ran straight to the palace and told her father . And he and his two sons-in-law followed her back to her house , and there the gardener lay asleep on his bed . And the scarf that he always wore bound round his head had slipped off , and his golden hair gleamed on the pillow . And they all recognised that this was the hero who had fought and won so many battles for them . -LSB- Illustration : The Hero discovered -RSB- Then there was great rejoicing throughout the land , and the king rewarded his son-in-law with half of his kingdom , and he and his wife reigned happily over it . THE LITTLE GRAY MAN A nun , a countryman , and a blacksmith were once wandering through the world together . One day they lost their way in a thick , dark forest , and were thankful when they saw , in the distance , the walls of a house , where they hoped they might obtain refuge for the night . When they got close to the house they found that it was an old deserted castle , fast falling into ruins , but with some of the rooms in it still habitable . As they were homeless they determined to take up their abode in the castle , and they arranged that one of them should always stay at home and keep house , while the other two went out into the world to seek their fortunes . The lot of remaining at home fell first to the nun , and when the countryman and the blacksmith had gone out into the wood , she set to work , tidied up the house , and prepared all the food for the day .
XXXXX her companions did not come home for their mid-day meal , she ate up her own portion and put the rest in the oven to keep warm .
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