DANISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES
turn around and look; but it was an old shoestring. "No one knows what it may be good for," said Peter, stuffing it into his pocket, and pursuing his way.
Soon he stopped again, shouting: "Look what I have found!" It was an old cork. His brothers were, by this time, far ahead. The cork, however, was passed down to the crow and the shoestring.
A few steps farther on he stopped again; this time for the purpose of picking up a ram's horn. It went promptly into his pocket. When, the next minute, he found a similar one, it followed the other. "They may be of use, somehow or other," said he again.
When he had gone a little farther he again stopped; this time before a large mud-hole. "Oh," cried he, "look at this, will you!" But no one heard him. "That may be of use," continued Peter, thrusting a handful of mud into his pocket; "no one knows."
John and James had, in the mean time, reached the king's palace, where they announced their errand. "You know, I suppose, what you stake," said the guardsman to them. Yes, they knew all, they said, and so John was conducted into the room where the princess met her suitors. She was sitting in a gilded chair, on an elevated place, surrounded by all her court ladies. A short distance from her the king himself was sitting on his throne, and around him stood all his courtiers and counsellors.
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