So lovely a
knight the Princess thought she had never yet seen; and while he was
riding, she sat and thought to herself,--
"Ah, how I wish that he might come up and go down the other side."
And when she saw him turning back, she threw down one of the golden
apples after him, and it rolled down into his shoe. But when he got to
the bottom of the hill he rode off so fast that no one could tell what
had become of him. That evening all the knights and princes were to go
before the king, that he who had ridden so far up the hill might show
the apple which the Princess had thrown, but there was no one who had
anything to show. One after the other they all came, but not a man of
them could show the apple.
The next day, all the princes and knights began to ride again, and you
may fancy they had taken care to shoe their horses well; but it was no
use,--they rode and slipped, and slipped and rode, just as they had done
the day before; and there was not one who could get so far as a yard up
the hill. And when they had worn out their horses, so that they could
not stir a leg, they were all forced to give it up. So the king thought
he might as well proclaim that the riding should take place the day
after for the last time, just to give them one chance more; but all at
once it came across his mind that he might as well wait a little longer,
to see if the knight in brass mail would come this day too.
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