LONGSHANKS, GIRTH, AND KEEN
THERE was once an aged king who had an only son. One day he called the prince to him and said: “My dear son, you know that ripe fruit falls in order to make room for other fruit. This my old head is like ripe fruit and soon the sun will no longer shine upon it. Now before I die I should like to see you happily married. Get you a wife, my son.”
“I would, my father, that I could please you in this,” the prince answered, “but I know of no one who would make you a worthy daughter-in-law.”
The old king reached into his pocket, drew out a golden key, and handed it to the prince. He said:
“Go up into the tower to the very top. There look about you and when you have decided what you like best of all you see, come back and tell me.”
The prince took the key and at once mounted the tower. He had never before gone to the very top and he had never heard what was there. He went up and up until at last he saw a small iron door in the
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