After the troll had left the house, the black Princess came and wept over the Prince; and when her tears fell on him, pain and bruise left him, and he was as whole as ever.  When he looked he saw that the black Princess’s feet were as white as silver.

The next night the troll came again, and with him two others.  “Black cats and spotted toads!” bellowed he, “are you here again?” Then he caught the Prince by the hair and dragged him out into the middle of the floor, and all three of the trolls fell upon the Prince and beat him with clubs, as though he had been a sack of barley-flour.  But the Prince bore this too without a word.  At last the morning came, and they had to give over beating him.  “We shall see if you will come again,” said the troll of the house.

After the trolls had gone, the black Princess came and wept over the Prince as she had done before, and when her tears fell on him he was made whole again.  And now the hands of the black Princess were as white as silver.

[Illustration:  THE GREAT UGLY TROLL FINDS THE PRINCE BY THE FIRE]

The third night the troll of the house came, and brought with him six others.  Then the same thing happened as before, and they beat the Prince with great cudgels as thick as my thumb.  At last the morning came, and they went away bellowing and howling, for their enchantment had gone.  As for the Prince, he lay upon the floor more dead than alive, for he could neither see nor hear anything that happened about him.

Then the Princess came for the third time and wept over him, and he was whole and sound again.  As for the Princess, she stood before him, and now her brow was as white as milk, and her cheeks were as red as blood, and her eyes were as blue as the skies, and her hair was like spun gold.  But the beautiful Princess had little or nothing upon her, so the Prince wrapped her in a ram’s skin that was in the troll’s house.  Then he turned his toes the way he had come, and started away for home, taking her along with him.

So they went along and along till they had come so near to the King’s house that they could see the high roofs and the weathercocks over the crest of the next hill.  There the Prince bade the Princess to wait for him till he went home and brought her a dress of real silver and gold, such as was fitting for her to wear.  Then he left her, and the Princess sat down beside the roadside to wait until he should come again.

Now as the Princess sat there, there came along the old goose-herd of the palace, and with her came her daughter; for they were driving the royal geese home again from where they had been eating grass.  When they saw the beautiful Princess, clad in her ram’s hide, they stared as though they would never shut their eyes again.  Then they wanted to know all about her—­who she was, and where she came from, and what she sat there for.  So the Princess told them all that they wanted to know, and that she waited there for the Prince to come with a dress all of silver and gold, which would suit her better than the old ram’s hide which she wore.