"This husband of hers," he cried, "is making the fairest of my servants sickly and plain. But if it is, indeed, longing for him that is eating the bloom off her cheeks, I will quickly remedy the matter!" And calling the court executioner, he whispered a few words in his ear. "There now!" said he later to the damsel, "when you know that your husband is dead and there is no use in wishing for him any longer, then perhaps you will forget him and learn to smile again."
In vain did the poor girl plead with the monarch for her husband's life! The more she wept and besought him, the more angry and determined he became.
So the executioner set out with a number of soldiers and, finding the log hut in the woods, dragged forth the Prince's son with little gentleness and took him afar off to a meadow in which was a dry, deserted well. Down in this the poor lad was thrust, and a great rock was rolled over it. There in the darkness he laid
