turning in the direction of the sound saw before him a seven-headed dragon. They rushed towards each other, and thrice the dragon fell upon the prince, but could do him no harm. "Well, now it is my turn," cried the youth; "wilt thou be converted to the true faith?" and with these words he struck the monster such a blow that six of his seven heads came flying down.
"Strike me once more," groaned the dragon.
"Not I," replied the youth, "I myself only came into the world once." Immediately the dragon fell to pieces, but his one remaining head began to roll and roll and roll till it stood on the brink of the well. "Whoever can take my soul out of this well," it said, "shall have my treasure also," and with these words the head bounded into the well.
The youth took a rope, fastened one end of it to a rock, and seizing the other end himself, lowered himself into the well. At the bottom of the well he found an iron door. He opened it, passed through, and there right before him stood a palace compared with which his father's palace was a hovel. Into this palace he went, and in it were forty rooms, and in each room was a damsel sitting by her embroidery frame with enormous treasures behind her. "Art thou a man or a spirit?" cried the terrified damsels.—"A man am I, and the son of a man," replied the prince.
