"Where then will you go?"
"Wherever my eyes lead me!"
So they blessed him and they let him go wherever the four winds blow.
When the boy was on the road, he wept bitterly and spoke to himself: "Am I then the feeblest man in the world, and no maiden will really have me? If the Devil would only send me a bride I think I would rake[1] her!"
Suddenly, just as though he had grown out of the earth, an old man came to meet him. "Good day, doughty youth!"
"Good day, old father!"
"What were you saying just now?"
Then the boy was frightened and did not know what to answer.
"You need not fear me. I will do you no harm, and perhaps I can help you in your need. Speak out boldly."
So the boy told him all the truth. "Oh, I am a sorry fellow, and no maiden will marry me. That is making me angry; and I said in my indignation that if the Devil himself came and gave me a girl, I would make her my bride."
So the old man laughed and said: "I can give you a bride, oh, as many brides as you like"; and they then came to a lake. "Stand with your back to the water, and step backwards," the old man told the boy.
As soon as he had turned round, and had gone four steps, he found himself under the water, in a white stone palace.[2] All the rooms were splendidly furnished and finely decorated.
The old man gave him meat and drink, and afterwards showed him twelve maidens, each of whom was fairer than the others. "Choose which you will of them. You shall have any of them."
