They now entered the dominions of another king, and in due time arrived at the capital.  The prince presented himself to the king, and asked if he had a magician in his kingdom.

“Not to my knowledge,” replied the king.  “But I have a remarkably wise daughter, and if you want counsel she may be able to help you.”

The princess accordingly was sent for, and she was so beautiful, as well as witty, that the prince fell in love with her, and begged the king to give her to him to wife.  The king, of course, was unable to refuse what the prince wished, and the wedding was celebrated without delay; and by the advice of his wife the prince placed the body of his faithful dog in a glass coffin, and kept it near him, that he might constantly be reminded of the evil results of giving way to his anger.

For a time all went well.  At first the prince never said a harsh word to his wife; but by and by familiarity made him less careful, and one day she said something that offended him, and he fell into a violent rage.  As he went storming up and down, the princess wrung her hands, and cried, “Ah, my dear husband, I beg of you to be careful what you say to me.  You say you loved your dog, and yet you know where he lies.”

“I know that I wish you were with him, with your prating!” cried the prince, in a fury; and the words were scarcely out of his mouth when the princess vanished from his side, and when he ran to the glass coffin, there she lay, pale and lifeless, with her head upon the body of the hound.

The prince was now beside himself with remorse and misery, and when the dumb nobleman made signs that they should pursue their search for the magician, he only cried, “Too late! too late!”

But after a while he said, “I will return to the hermit, and pass the rest of my miserable life in solitude and penance.  And you, dear friend, go back to my father.”

But the dumb nobleman shook his head, and could not be persuaded to leave the prince.  Then they took the glass coffin on their shoulders, and on foot, and weeping as they went, they retraced their steps to the forest.

For some time the prince remained with the hermit, and submitted himself to his direction.  Then the hermit bade him return to his father, and he obeyed.

Every day the prince stood by the glass coffin, and beat his breast and cried, “Behold, murderer, the fruits of anger!” And he tried hard to overcome the violence of his temper.  When he lost heart he remembered a saying of the hermit:  “Patience had far to go, but she was crowned at last.”  And after a while the prince became as gentle as he had before been violent.  And the king and all the court rejoiced at the change; but the prince remained sad at heart, thinking of the princess.

One day he was sitting alone, when a man approached him, dressed in a long black robe.

“Good-day, godson,” said he.

“Who calls me godson?” said the prince.