and they all fitted exactly. Then handing the handkerchief on which her name was embroidered to the king's daughter, he asked her to whom she had given it. She answered, "To him who killed the dragon." Calling his animals to him, he took the ornaments off their necks, among them the gold clasp from the lion's neck, and showing them to her, asked to whom they belonged. "The necklace and the clasp were mine," she answered, "and I divided them among the animals who helped to destroy the dragon." Then the huntsman spoke further. "As I was resting and sleeping after the fatigue of the fight, the marshal came and cut off my head. He carried away the king's daughter, and pretended that it was he who had killed the dragon; but that he lied is here proved by these tongues, this handkerchief, and this necklace." He continued to relate how he had been healed by a wonderful root brought to him by his animals, and how he and they had been wandering about during the last year, and had then come again to the town where he had learnt from the innkeeper the treacherous behaviour of the marshal. Upon this, the king said to his daughter, "Is it true that it was this man who killed the dragon?" And she answered, "Yes, it is true; and since it is through no doing of mine that it has come to light, I am no longer afraid to speak of the marshal's shameful deed. He forced me by his threats to keep silence, but it was on that account that I refused to have the marriage celebrated before a year and a day had elapsed." The king now summoned twelve of his councillors to pronounce sentence on the marshal, and he was condemned to be torn in pieces by wild oxen. The marshal thus received the just due of his deeds, while the huntsman was rewarded with the hand of the king's daughter, and was also appointed governor
