Then he went on till he came to the king’s house, and when he was at the door the princess came running down the stairs, and said, “Welcome to you back again.”  And all the people said, “It is a wonder you have gone hunting three days after your marriage, and to stop so long away.”  So he stopped that night with the princess, and she thought it was her own husband all the time.

And in the morning the deer came, and bells ringing on her, under the windows, and called out, “The hunt is here, where are the huntsmen and the hounds?” Then Bill got up and got his horse and his hound, and followed her over hills and hollows till they came to the wood, and there he saw nothing but the mud-wall cabin and the old woman sitting by the fire, and she bade him stop the night there, and gave him two ribs of hair to tie his horse and his hound with.  But Bill was wittier than Jack was, and before he went out, he threw the ribs of hair into the fire secretly.  When he came in the old woman said, “Your brother killed my three sons, and I killed him, and I’ll kill you along with him.”  And she put her gloves on, and they began the fight, and then Bill called out, “Help, horse.”  “Squeeze hair,” called the old woman; “I can’t squeeze, I’m in the fire,” said the hair.  And the horse came in and gave her a blow of his hoof.  “Help, hound,” said Bill then.  “Squeeze, hair,” said the old woman; “I can’t, I’m in the fire,” said the second hair.  Then the bound put his teeth in her, and Bill brought her down, and she cried for mercy.  “Give me my life,” she said, “and I’ll tell you where you’ll get your brother again, and his hound and horse.”  “Where’s that?” said Bill.  “Do you see that rod over the fire?” said she; “take it down and go outside the door where you’ll see three green stones, and strike them with the rod, for they are your brother, and his horse and hound, and they’ll come to life again.”  “I will, but I’ll make a green stone of you first,” said Bill, and he cut off her head with his sword.

Then he went out and struck the stones, and sure enough there were Jack, and his horse and hound, alive and well.  And they began striking other stones around, and men came from them, that had been turned to stones, hundreds and thousands of them.

Then they set out for home, but on the way they had some dispute or some argument together, for Jack was not well pleased to hear he had spent the night with his wife, and Bill got angry, and he struck Jack with the rod, and turned him to a green stone.  And he went home, but the princess saw he had something on his mind, and he said then, “I have killed my brother.”  And he went back then and brought him to life, and they lived happy ever after, and they had children by the basketful, and threw them out by the shovelful.  I was passing one time myself, and they called me in and gave me a cup of tea.

1902.

BY THE ROADSIDE