The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20 · page 21 2101And the young prince had pity, and unstrung his bow.102“Oh, prince, I will repay your deed of mercy, said the grateful wood-pigeon.103“Poor thing! how can you repay me?” asked the prince.104“You have forgotten,” answered the wood-pigeon, “the proverb that runs, ‘mountain and mountain can never meet, but one living creature can always come across another.’”105The boy laughed at this speech and went his way.106By-and-by he reached the edge of a lake, and flying towards some rushes which grew near the shore he beheld a wild duck.107Now, in the days that the king, his father, was alive, and he had everything to eat he could possibly wish for, the prince always had wild duck for his birthday dinner, so he quickly fitted an arrow to his bow and took a careful aim.108“Do not shoot, I pray you, noble prince!” cried the wild duck; “I have two little sons at home; they will die of hunger if I am not there to bring them food.”109And the prince had pity, and let fall his arrow and unstrung his bow.110“Oh, prince!111I will repay your deed of mercy,” exclaimed the grateful wild duck.112“You poor thing! how can you repay me?” asked the prince.1 2← previousThe Crimson Fairy Book, part 19next →The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21↑ back to The Crimson Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/20/page/2/