The Pink Fairy Book, part 14 · page 21 2101He then said farewell to his brothers, and rode on to find another inn in which to pass the night.102When he had ridden a long way, and it began to grow dark, he came to a house which lay deep in the forest.103Here he was received in a very friendly manner by the host, who put his horse into the stable, and led the prince himself into the guest-chamber, where he ordered a maid-servant to lay the cloth and set down the supper.104It was now dark, and while the girl was laying the cloth and setting down the dishes, and the prince had begun to appease his hunger, he heard the most piteous shrieks and cries from the next room.105He sprang up from the table and asked the girl what those cries were, and whether he had fallen into a den of robbers.106The girl answered that these shrieks were heard every night, but it was no living being who uttered them; it was a dead man, who life the host had taken because he could not pay for the meals he had had in the inn.107The host further refused to bury the dead man, as he had left nothing to pay the expenses of the funeral, and every night he went and scourged the dead body of his victim.checked by a teacher108When she had said this she lifted the cover off one of the dishes, and the prince saw that there lay on it a knife and an axe.109He understood then that the host meant to ask him by this what kind of death he preferred to die, unless he was willing to ransom his life with his money.110He then summoned the host, gave him a large sum for his own life, and paid the dead man’s debt as well, besides paying him for burying the body, which the murderer now promised to attend to.111The prince, however, felt that his life was not safe in this murderer’s den, and asked the maid to help him to escape that night.112She replied that the attempt to do so might cost her her own life, as the key of the stable in which the prince’s horse stood lay under the host’s pillow; but, as she herself was a prisoner there, she would help him to escape if he would take her along with him.113He promised to do so, and they succeeded in getting away from the inn, and rode on until they came to another far away from it, where the prince got a good place for the girl before proceeding on his journey.1 2← previousThe Pink Fairy Book, part 13next →The Pink Fairy Book, part 15↑ back to The Pink Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/page/2/