Assipattle And The Mester Stoorworm

: The Scottish Fairy Book

In far bygone days, in the North, there lived a well-to-do farmer, who

had seven sons and one daughter. And the youngest of these seven sons

bore a very curious name; for men called him Assipattle, which means,

"He who grovels among the ashes."



Perhaps Assipattle deserved his name, for he was rather a lazy boy, who

never did any work on the farm as his brothers did, but ran about the

doors with ragged clo hes and unkempt hair, and whose mind was ever

filled with wondrous stories of Trolls and Giants, Elves and Goblins.



When the sun was hot in the long summer afternoons, when the bees droned

drowsily and even the tiny insects seemed almost asleep, the boy was

content to throw himself down on the ash-heap amongst the ashes, and lie

there, lazily letting them run through his fingers, as one might play

with sand on the sea-shore, basking in the sunshine and telling stories

to himself.



And his brothers, working hard in the fields, would point to him with

mocking fingers, and laugh, and say to each other how well the name

suited him, and of how little use he was in the world.



And when they came home from their work, they would push him about and

tease him, and even his mother would make him sweep the floor, and draw

water from the well, and fetch peats from the peat-stack, and do all the

little odd jobs that nobody else would do.



So poor Assipattle had rather a hard life of it, and he would often have

been very miserable had it not been for his sister, who loved him

dearly, and who would listen quite patiently to all the stories that he

had to tell; who never laughed at him or told him that he was telling

lies, as his brothers did.



But one day a very sad thing happened--at least, it was a sad thing for

poor Assipattle.



For it chanced that the King of these parts had one only daughter, the

Princess Gemdelovely, whom he loved dearly, and to whom he denied

nothing. And Princess Gemdelovely was in want of a waiting-maid, and as

she had seen Assipattle's sister standing by the garden gate as she was

riding by one day, and had taken a fancy to her, she asked her father if

she might ask her to come and live at the Castle and serve her.



Her father agreed at once, as he always did agree to any of her wishes;

and sent a messenger in haste to the farmer's house to ask if his

daughter would come to the Castle to be the Princess's waiting-maid.



And, of course, the farmer was very pleased at the piece of good fortune

which had befallen the girl, and so was her mother, and so were her six

brothers, all except poor Assipattle, who looked with wistful eyes after

his sister as she rode away, proud of her new clothes and of the rivlins

which her father had made her out of cowhide, which she was to wear in

the Palace when she waited on the Princess, for at home she always ran

barefoot.



Time passed, and one day a rider rode in hot haste through the country

bearing the most terrible tidings. For the evening before, some

fishermen, out in their boats, had caught sight of the Mester Stoorworm,

which, as everyone knows, was the largest, and the first, and the

greatest of all Sea-Serpents. It was that beast which, in the Good Book,

is called the Leviathan, and if it had been measured in our day, its

tail would have touched Iceland, while its snout rested on the North

Cape.



And the fishermen had noticed that this fearsome Monster had its head

turned towards the mainland, and that it opened its mouth and yawned

horribly, as if to show that it was hungry, and that, if it were not

fed, it would kill every living thing upon the land, both man and beast,

bird and creeping thing.



For 'twas well known that its breath was so poisonous that it consumed

as with a burning fire everything that it lighted on. So that, if it

pleased the awful creature to lift its head and put forth its breath,

like noxious vapour, over the country, in a few weeks the fair land

would be turned into a region of desolation.



As you may imagine, everyone was almost paralysed with terror at this

awful calamity which threatened them; and the King called a solemn

meeting of all his Counsellors, and asked them if they could devise any

way of warding off the danger.



And for three whole days they sat in Council, these grave, bearded men,

and many were the suggestions which were made, and many the words of

wisdom which were spoken; but, alas! no one was wise enough to think of

a way by which the Mester Stoorworm might be driven back.



At last, at the end of the third day, when everyone had given up hope of

finding a remedy, the door of the Council Chamber opened and the Queen

appeared.



Now the Queen was the King's second wife, and she was not a favourite in

the Kingdom, for she was a proud, insolent woman, who did not behave

kindly to her step-daughter, the Princess Gemdelovely, and who spent

much more of her time in the company of a great Sorcerer, whom everyone

feared and dreaded, than she did in that of the King, her husband.



So the sober Counsellors looked at her disapprovingly as she came boldly

into the Council Chamber and stood up beside the King's Chair of State,

and, speaking in a loud, clear voice, addressed them thus:



"Ye think that ye are brave men and strong, oh, ye Elders, and fit to be

the Protectors of the People. And so it may be, when it is mortals that

ye are called on to face. But ye be no match for the foe that now

threatens our land. Before him your weapons be but as straw. 'Tis not

through strength of arm, but through sorcery, that he will be overcome.

So listen to my words, even though they be but those of a woman, and

take counsel with the great Sorcerer, from whom nothing is hid, but who

knoweth all the mysteries of the earth, and of the air, and of the sea."



Now the King and his Counsellors liked not this advice, for they hated

the Sorcerer, who had, as they thought, too much influence with the

Queen; but they were at their wits' end, and knew not to whom to turn

for help, so they were fain to do as she said and summon the Wizard

before them.



And when he obeyed the summons and appeared in their midst, they liked

him none the better for his looks. For he was long, and thin, and

awesome, with a beard that came down to his knee, and hair that wrapped

him about like a mantle, and his face was the colour of mortar, as if he

had always lived in darkness, and had been afraid to look on the sun.



But there was no help to be found in any other man, so they laid the

case before him, and asked him what they should do. And he answered

coldly that he would think over the matter, and come again to the

Assembly the following day and give them his advice.



And his advice, when they heard it, was like to turn their hair white

with horror.



For he said that the only way to satisfy the Monster, and to make it

spare the land, was to feed it every Saturday with seven young maidens,

who must be the fairest who could be found; and if, after this remedy

had been tried once or twice, it did not succeed in mollifying the

Stoorworm and inducing him to depart, there was but one other measure

that he could suggest, but that was so horrible and dreadful that he

would not rend their hearts by mentioning it in the meantime.



And as, although they hated him, they feared him also, the Council had

e'en to abide by his words, and pronounced the awful doom.



And so it came about that, every Saturday, seven bonnie, innocent

maidens were bound hand and foot and laid on a rock which ran into the

sea, and the Monster stretched out his long, jagged tongue, and swept

them into his mouth; while all the rest of the folk looked on from the

top of a high hill--or, at least, the men looked--with cold, set faces,

while the women hid theirs in their aprons and wept aloud.



"Is there no other way," they cried, "no other way than this, to save

the land?"



But the men only groaned and shook their heads. "No other way," they

answered; "no other way."



Then suddenly a boy's indignant voice rang out among the crowd. "Is

there no grown man who would fight that Monster, and kill him, and save

the lassies alive? I would do it; I am not feared for the Mester

Stoorworm."



It was the boy Assipattle who spoke, and everyone looked at him in

amazement as he stood staring at the great Sea-Serpent, his fingers

twitching with rage, and his great blue eyes glowing with pity and

indignation.



"The poor bairn's mad; the sight hath turned his head," they whispered

one to another; and they would have crowded round him to pet and comfort

him, but his elder brother came and gave him a heavy clout on the side

of his head.



"Thou fight the Stoorworm!" he cried contemptuously. "A likely story! Go

home to thy ash-pit, and stop speaking havers;" and, taking his arm, he

drew him to the place where his other brothers were waiting, and they

all went home together.



But all the time Assipattle kept on saying that he meant to kill the

Stoorworm; and at last his brothers became so angry at what they thought

was mere bragging, that they picked up stones and pelted him so hard

with them that at last he took to his heels and ran away from them.



That evening the six brothers were threshing corn in the barn, and

Assipattle, as usual, was lying among the ashes thinking his own

thoughts, when his mother came out and bade him run and tell the others

to come in for their supper.



The boy did as he was bid, for he was a willing enough little fellow;

but when he entered the barn his brothers, in revenge for his having run

away from them in the afternoon, set on him and pulled him down, and

piled so much straw on top of him that, had his father not come from the

house to see what they were all waiting for, he would, of a surety, have

been smothered.



But when, at supper-time, his mother was quarrelling with the other lads

for what they had done, and saying to them that it was only cowards who

set on bairns littler and younger than themselves, Assipattle looked up

from the bicker of porridge which he was supping.



"Vex not thyself, Mother," he said, "for I could have fought them all if

I liked; ay, and beaten them, too."



"Why didst thou not essay it then?" cried everybody at once.



"Because I knew that I would need all my strength when I go to fight the

Giant Stoorworm," replied Assipattle gravely.



And, as you may fancy, the others laughed louder than before.



Time passed, and every Saturday seven lassies were thrown to the

Stoorworm, until at last it was felt that this state of things could not

be allowed to go on any longer; for if it did, there would soon be no

maidens at all left in the country.



So the Elders met once more, and, after long consultation, it was

agreed that the Sorcerer should be summoned, and asked what his other

remedy was. "For, by our troth," said they, "it cannot be worse than

that which we are practising now."



But, had they known it, the new remedy was even more dreadful than the

old. For the cruel Queen hated her step-daughter, Gemdelovely, and the

wicked Sorcerer knew that she did, and that she would not be sorry to

get rid of her, and, things being as they were, he thought that he saw a

way to please the Queen. So he stood up in the Council, and, pretending

to be very sorry, said that the only other thing that could be done was

to give the Princess Gemdelovely to the Stoorworm, then would it of a

surety depart.



When they heard this sentence a terrible stillness fell upon the

Council, and everyone covered his face with his hands, for no man dare

look at the King.



But although his dear daughter was as the apple of his eye, he was a

just and righteous Monarch, and he felt that it was not right that other

fathers should have been forced to part with their daughters, in order

to try and save the country, if his child was to be spared.



So, after he had had speech with the Princess, he stood up before the

Elders, and declared, with trembling voice, that both he and she were

ready to make the sacrifice.



"She is my only child," he said, "and the last of her race. Yet it

seemeth good to both of us that she should lay down her life, if by so

doing she may save the land that she loves so well."



Salt tears ran down the faces of the great bearded men as they heard

their King's words, for they all knew how dear the Princess Gemdelovely

was to him. But it was felt that what he said was wise and true, and

that the thing was just and right; for 'twere better, surely, that one

maiden should die, even although she were of Royal blood, than that

bands of other maidens should go to their death week by week, and all to

no purpose.



So, amid heavy sobs, the aged Lawman--he who was the chief man of the

Council--rose up to pronounce the Princess's doom. But, ere he did so,

the King's Kemper--or Fighting-man--stepped forward.



"Nature teaches us that it is fitting that each beast hath a tail," he

said; "and this Doom, which our Lawman is about to pronounce, is in very

sooth a venomous beast. And, if I had my way, the tail which it would

bear after it is this, that if the Mester Stoorworm doth not depart, and

that right speedily, after he have devoured the Princess, the next thing

that is offered to him be no tender young maiden, but that tough, lean

old Sorcerer."



And at his words there was such a great shout of approval that the

wicked Sorcerer seemed to shrink within himself, and his pale face grew

paler than it was before.



Now, three weeks were allowed between the time that the Doom was

pronounced upon the Princess and the time that it was carried out, so

that the King might send Ambassadors to all the neighbouring Kingdoms to

issue proclamations that, if any Champion would come forward who was

able to drive away the Stoorworm and save the Princess, he should have

her for his wife.



And with her he should have the Kingdom, as well as a very famous sword

that was now in the King's possession, but which had belonged to the

great god Odin, with which he had fought and vanquished all his foes.



The sword bore the name of Sickersnapper, and no man had any power

against it.



The news of all these things spread over the length and breadth of the

land, and everyone mourned for the fate that was like to befall the

Princess Gemdelovely. And the farmer, and his wife, and their six sons

mourned also;--all but Assipattle, who sat amongst the ashes and said

nothing.



When the King's Proclamation was made known throughout the neighbouring

Kingdoms, there was a fine stir among all the young Gallants, for it

seemed but a little thing to slay a Sea-Monster; and a beautiful wife, a

fertile Kingdom, and a trusty sword are not to be won every day.



So six-and-thirty Champions arrived at the King's Palace, each hoping to

gain the prize.



But the King sent them all out to look at the Giant Stoorworm lying in

the sea with its enormous mouth open, and when they saw it, twelve of

them were seized with sudden illness, and twelve of them were so afraid

that they took to their heels and ran, and never stopped till they

reached their own countries; and so only twelve returned to the King's

Palace, and as for them, they were so downcast at the thought of the

task that they had undertaken that they had no spirit left in them at

all.



And none of them dare try to kill the Stoorworm; so the three weeks

passed slowly by, until the night before the day on which the Princess

was to be sacrificed. On that night the King, feeling that he must do

something to entertain his guests, made a great supper for them.



But, as you may think, it was a dreary feast, for everyone was thinking

so much about the terrible thing that was to happen on the morrow, that

no one could eat or drink.



And when it was all over, and everybody had retired to rest, save the

King and his old Kemperman, the King returned to the great hall, and

went slowly up to his Chair of State, high up on the dais. It was not

like the Chairs of State that we know nowadays; it was nothing but a

massive Kist, in which he kept all the things which he treasured most.



The old Monarch undid the iron bolts with trembling fingers, and lifted

the lid, and took out the wondrous sword Sickersnapper, which had

belonged to the great god Odin.



His trusty Kemperman, who had stood by him in a hundred fights, watched

him with pitying eyes.



"Why lift ye out the sword," he said softly, "when thy fighting days are

done? Right nobly hast thou fought thy battles in the past, oh, my Lord!

when thine arm was strong and sure. But when folk's years number four

score and sixteen, as thine do, 'tis time to leave such work to other

and younger men."



The old King turned on him angrily, with something of the old fire in

his eyes. "Wheest," he cried, "else will I turn this sword on thee. Dost

thou think that I can see my only bairn devoured by a Monster, and not

lift a finger to try and save her when no other man will? I tell

thee--and I will swear it with my two thumbs crossed on

Sickersnapper--that both the sword and I will be destroyed before so

much as one of her hairs be touched. So go, an' thou love me, my old

comrade, and order my boat to be ready, with the sail set and the prow

pointed out to sea. I will go myself and fight the Stoorworm; and if I

do not return, I will lay it on thee to guard my cherished daughter.

Peradventure, my life may redeem hers."



Now that night everybody at the farm went to bed betimes, for next

morning the whole family was to set out early, to go to the top of the

hill near the sea, to see the Princess eaten by the Stoorworm. All

except Assipattle, who was to be left at home to herd the geese.



The lad was so vexed at this--for he had great schemes in his head--that

he could not sleep. And as he lay tossing and tumbling about in his

corner among the ashes, he heard his father and mother talking in the

great box-bed. And, as he listened, he found that they were having an

argument.



"'Tis such a long way to the hill overlooking the sea, I fear me I shall

never walk it," said his mother. "I think I had better bide at home."



"Nay," replied her husband, "that would be a bonny-like thing, when all

the country-side is to be there. Thou shalt ride behind me on my good

mare Go-Swift."



"I do not care to trouble thee to take me behind thee," said his wife,

"for methinks thou dost not love me as thou wert wont to do."



"The woman's havering," cried the Goodman of the house impatiently.

"What makes thee think that I have ceased to love thee?"



"Because thou wilt no longer tell me thy secrets," answered his wife.

"To go no further, think of this very horse, Go-Swift. For five long

years I have been begging thee to tell me how it is that, when thou

ridest her, she flies faster than the wind, while if any other man mount

her, she hirples along like a broken-down nag."



The Goodman laughed. "'Twas not for lack of love, Goodwife," he said,

"though it might be lack of trust. For women's tongues wag but loosely;

and I did not want other folk to ken my secret. But since my silence

hath vexed thy heart, I will e'en tell it thee.



"When I want Go-Swift to stand, I give her one clap on the left

shoulder. When I would have her go like any other horse, I give her two

claps on the right. But when I want her to fly like the wind, I whistle

through the windpipe of a goose. And, as I never ken when I want her to

gallop like that, I aye keep the bird's thrapple in the left-hand pocket

of my coat."



"So that is how thou managest the beast," said the farmer's wife, in a

satisfied tone; "and that is what becomes of all my goose thrapples. Oh!

but thou art a clever fellow, Goodman; and now that I ken the way of it

I may go to sleep."



Assipattle was not tumbling about in the ashes now; he was sitting up in

the darkness, with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes.



His opportunity had come at last, and he knew it.



He waited patiently till their heavy breathing told him that his parents

were asleep; then he crept over to where his father's clothes were, and

took the goose's windpipe out of the pocket of his coat, and slipped

noiselessly out of the house. Once he was out of it, he ran like

lightning to the stable. He saddled and bridled Go-Swift, and threw a

halter round her neck, and led her to the stable door.



The good mare, unaccustomed to her new groom, pranced, and reared, and

plunged; but Assipattle, knowing his father's secret, clapped her once

on the left shoulder, and she stood as still as a stone. Then he mounted

her, and gave her two claps on the right shoulder, and the good horse

trotted off briskly, giving a loud neigh as she did so.



The unwonted sound, ringing out in the stillness of the night, roused

the household, and the Goodman and his six sons came tumbling down the

wooden stairs, shouting to one another in confusion that someone was

stealing Go-Swift.



The farmer was the first to reach the door; and when he saw, in the

starlight, the vanishing form of his favourite steed, he cried at the

top of his voice:



"Stop thief, ho!

Go-Swift, whoa!"



And when Go-Swift heard that she pulled up in a moment. All seemed lost,

for the farmer and his sons could run very fast indeed, and it seemed to

Assipattle, sitting motionless on Go-Swift's back, that they would very

soon make up on him.



But, luckily, he remembered the goose's thrapple, and he pulled it out

of his pocket and whistled through it. In an instant the good mare

bounded forward, swift as the wind, and was over the hill and out of

reach of its pursuers before they had taken ten steps more.



Day was dawning when the lad came within sight of the sea; and there, in

front of him, in the water, lay the enormous Monster whom he had come so

far to slay. Anyone would have said that he was mad even to dream of

making such an attempt, for he was but a slim, unarmed youth, and the

Mester Stoorworm was so big that men said it would reach the fourth part

round the world. And its tongue was jagged at the end like a fork, and

with this fork it could sweep whatever it chose into its mouth, and

devour it at its leisure.



For all this, Assipattle was not afraid, for he had the heart of a hero

underneath his tattered garments. "I must be cautious," he said to

himself, "and do by my wits what I cannot do by my strength."



He climbed down from his seat on Go-Swift's back, and tethered the good

steed to a tree, and walked on, looking well about him, till he came to

a little cottage on the edge of a wood.



The door was not locked, so he entered, and found its occupant, an old

woman, fast asleep in bed. He did not disturb her, but he took down an

iron pot from the shelf, and examined it closely.



"This will serve my purpose," he said; "and surely the old dame would

not grudge it if she knew 'twas to save the Princess's life."



Then he lifted a live peat from the smouldering fire, and went his way.



Down at the water's edge he found the King's boat lying, guarded by a

single boatman, with its sails set and its prow turned in the direction

of the Mester Stoorworm.



"It's a cold morning," said Assipattle. "Art thou not well-nigh frozen

sitting there? If thou wilt come on shore, and run about, and warm

thyself, I will get into the boat and guard it till thou returnest."



"A likely story," replied the man. "And what would the King say if he

were to come, as I expect every moment he will do, and find me playing

myself on the sand, and his good boat left to a smatchet like thee?

'Twould be as much as my head is worth."



"As thou wilt," answered Assipattle carelessly, beginning to search

among the rocks. "In the meantime, I must be looking for a wheen mussels

to roast for my breakfast." And after he had gathered the mussels, he

began to make a hole in the sand to put the live peat in. The boatman

watched him curiously, for he, too, was beginning to feel hungry.



Presently the lad gave a wild shriek, and jumped high in the air. "Gold,

gold!" he cried. "By the name of Thor, who would have looked to find

gold here?"



This was too much for the boatman. Forgetting all about his head and the

King, he jumped out of the boat, and, pushing Assipattle aside, began to

scrape among the sand with all his might.






While he was doing so, Assipattle seized his pot, jumped into the boat,

pushed her off, and was half a mile out to sea before the outwitted man,

who, needless to say, could find no gold, noticed what he was about.



And, of course, he was very angry, and the old King was more angry still

when he came down to the shore, attended by his Nobles and carrying the

great sword Sickersnapper, in the vain hope that he, poor feeble old man

that he was, might be able in some way to defeat the Monster and save

his daughter.



But to make such an attempt was beyond his power now that his boat was

gone. So he could only stand on the shore, along with the fast

assembling crowd of his subjects, and watch what would befall.



And this was what befell!



Assipattle, sailing slowly over the sea, and watching the Mester

Stoorworm intently, noticed that the terrible Monster yawned

occasionally, as if longing for his weekly feast. And as it yawned a

great flood of sea-water went down its throat, and came out again at its

huge gills.



So the brave lad took down his sail, and pointed the prow of his boat

straight at the Monster's mouth, and the next time it yawned he and his

boat were sucked right in, and, like Jonah, went straight down its

throat into the dark regions inside its body. On and on the boat

floated; but as it went the water grew less, pouring out of the

Stoorworm's gills, till at last it stuck, as it were, on dry land. And

Assipattle jumped out, his pot in his hand, and began to explore.



Presently he came to the huge creature's liver, and having heard that

the liver of a fish is full of oil, he made a hole in it and put in the

live peat.



Woe's me! but there was a conflagration! And Assipattle just got back to

his boat in time; for the Mester Stoorworm, in its convulsions, threw

the boat right out of its mouth again, and it was flung up, high and

dry, on the bare land.



The commotion in the sea was so terrible that the King and his

daughter--who by this time had come down to the shore dressed like a

bride, in white, ready to be thrown to the Monster--and all his

Courtiers, and all the country-folk, were fain to take refuge on the

hill top, out of harm's way, and stand and see what happened next.



And this was what happened next.



The poor, distressed creature--for it was now to be pitied, even

although it was a great, cruel, awful Mester Stoorworm--tossed itself to

and fro, twisting and writhing.



And as it tossed its awful head out of the water its tongue fell out,

and struck the earth with such force that it made a great dent in it,

into which the sea rushed. And that dent formed the crooked Straits

which now divide Denmark from Norway and Sweden.



Then some of its teeth fell out and rested in the sea, and became the

Islands that we now call the Orkney Isles; and a little afterwards some

more teeth dropped out, and they became what we now call the Shetland

Isles.



After that the creature twisted itself into a great lump and died; and

this lump became the Island of Iceland; and the fire which Assipattle

had kindled with his live peat still burns on underneath it, and that is

why there are mountains which throw out fire in that chilly land.



When at last it was plainly seen that the Mester Stoorworm was dead, the

King could scarce contain himself with joy. He put his arms round

Assipattle's neck, and kissed him, and called him his son. And he took

off his own Royal Mantle and put it on the lad, and girded his good

sword Sickersnapper round his waist. And he called his daughter, the

Princess Gemdelovely, to him, and put her hand in his, and declared that

when the right time came she should be his wife, and that he should be

ruler over all the Kingdom.



Then the whole company mounted their horses again, and Assipattle rode

on Go-Swift by the Princess's side; and so they returned, with great

joy, to the King's Palace.



But as they were nearing the gate Assipattle's sister, she who was the

Princess's maid, ran out to meet him, and signed to the Princess to lout

down, and whispered something in her ear.



The Princess's face grew dark, and she turned her horse's head and rode

back to where her father was, with his Nobles. She told him the words

that the maiden had spoken; and when he heard them his face, too, grew

as black as thunder.



For the matter was this: The cruel Queen, full of joy at the thought

that she was to be rid, once for all, of her step-daughter, had been

making love to the wicked Sorcerer all the morning in the old King's

absence.



"He shall be killed at once," cried the Monarch. "Such behaviour cannot

be overlooked."



"Thou wilt have much ado to find him, your Majesty," said the girl, "for

'tis more than an hour since he and the Queen fled together on the

fleetest horses that they could find in the stables."



"But I can find him," cried Assipattle; and he went off like the wind on

his good horse Go-Swift.



It was not long before he came within sight of the fugitives, and he

drew his sword and shouted to them to stop.



They heard the shout, and turned round, and they both laughed aloud in

derision when they saw that it was only the boy who grovelled in the

ashes who pursued them.



"The insolent brat! I will cut off his head for him! I will teach him a

lesson!" cried the Sorcerer; and he rode boldly back to meet Assipattle.

For although he was no fighter, he knew that no ordinary weapon could

harm his enchanted body; therefore he was not afraid.



But he did not count on Assipattle having the Sword of the great god

Odin, with which he had slain all his enemies; and before this magic

weapon he was powerless. And, at one thrust, the young lad ran it

through his body as easily as if he had been any ordinary man, and he

fell from his horse, dead.



Then the Courtiers of the King, who had also set off in pursuit, but

whose steeds were less fleet of foot than Go-Swift, came up, and seized

the bridle of the Queen's horse, and led it and its rider back to the

Palace.



She was brought before the Council, and judged, and condemned to be shut

up in a high tower for the remainder of her life. Which thing surely

came to pass.



As for Assipattle, when the proper time came he was married to the

Princess Gemdelovely, with great feasting and rejoicing. And when the

old King died they ruled the Kingdom for many a long year.