He travelled on over hills, and along gloomy roads, till he got deep in a dark forest.  There the old man with the gray beard met him.  The lad was very glad to fall in with him again, and said to him—­

“Good-day, father.  I thank you for our last meeting.”

“Good-day,” answered the old man.  “Where are you going?”

“I am going into the world,” said the boy, “to see what fortune I shall have.”

“Go on,” said the old man, “and you will come to a royal palace; there you will have a change of fortune.”

With that they parted; but the lad paid good heed to the old man’s words, and kept on his way.  When he came to a house, he played on his pipe while his dogs danced, and so he got food and shelter, and whatever he wanted.

Having travelled for some days, he at last entered a large city, through the streets of which great crowds of people were passing.  The lad wondered what was the cause of all this.  At last he came to where proclamation was being made, that whoever should rescue the three princesses from the hands of the mountain giants should have one of them for his wife and half the kingdom with her.  Then the lad remembered what the old man had told him, and understood what he meant.  He called his dogs to him, and went on till he came to the palace.  There, from the time that the princesses disappeared, the place had been filled with sorrow and mourning, and the king and the queen grieved more than all the others.  The boy entered the palace, and begged to be allowed to play to the king and show him his dogs.  The people of the palace were much pleased at this, for they thought it might do something to make the king forget his grief.  So they let him go in and show what he could do.  When the king heard how he played, and saw how wonderfully his dogs danced, he was so merry that no one had seen him so during the seven long years that had passed since he lost his daughters.  When the dancing was finished, the king asked the boy what he should give him as a return for the amusement he had given them.

“My lord king,” said the boy, “I am not come here for silver, goods, or gold!  I ask one thing of you, that you will give me leave to go and seek the three princesses who are now in the hands of the mountain giants.”  When the king heard this he knit his brow—­“So you think,” said he, “that you can restore my daughters.  The task is a dangerous one, and men who were better than you have suffered in it.  If, however, any one save the princesses I will never break my word.”

The lad thought these words kingly and honest.  He bade farewell to the king and set out, determined that he would not rest till he had found what he wanted.

He travelled through many great countries without any extraordinary adventure, and wherever he went his dogs went with him.  Quick-ear ran and heard what there was to hear in the place; Hold-fast carried the bag; and on Tear, who was the strongest of the three, the lad rode when he was tired.  One day Quick-ear came running fast to his master to tell him that he had been near a high mountain, and had heard one of the princesses spinning within it.  The giant, Quick-ear said, was not at home.  At this the boy felt very glad, and he made haste to the mountain with his dogs.  When they were come to it, Quick-ear said—­