"I command you", said the prince, "to get me some light from somewhere."
As he gave the command, a lighted wax-taper was already in his hand, and by its light he strolled further on. He went deeper and deeper in, until all at once the passage began to widen out. There he found a house. He pushed the door open, and there finds an old dwarf. He greets him in a becoming manner.
"God give you good day, my dear Mr. father; pray how are you, how does your precious health serve you?"[1]
"Good day", answered the dwarf; "I am well; but who are you, and what sort of business are you upon that you come here, where not even a mouse comes?"
The prince told the story of his sad fate with very bitter lamentations, so that the dwarf's heart was sad for him. He encouraged and comforted him, telling him not to grieve at all, for he will procure him just such a place as the one he has left. Then he told him that beyond the mountain there was a powerful but good-hearted king; he, too, had had an only son, but he had been lost in the wars. Now, if he will go to this king, who will soon be killed by grief, and will say that he is his lost son, the king would grieve no more, and he would not be a world-wanderer.
The prince resolved upon this, and the dwarf carefully instructed him what he was to say to the king. "Say that you are called Paul, that you left home seven years ago, and did not write because you were taken prisoner, and kept in such grievous captivity that you were unable either to write a letter or send a message. Then ask this, too, whether the three little sisters whom you left alive at the time of your departure are still living."
The prince thanked him much for his good advice, took leave of the dwarf, and with that set off out of the mountain. When he got out he took out his watch and gave this command to the genius: "Take me to the other side
- ↑ A usual expression, especially amongst the lower classes.
