Page 472 sur 626

Soon afterwards he came to a city, where a king ruled who had a

daughter who was so serious that no one could make her laugh. So

he had put forth a decree that whosoever should be able to make

her laugh should marry her. When Dummling heard this, he went

with his goose and all her train before the king's daughter, and

as soon as she saw the seven people running on and on, one behind

the other, she began to laugh quite loudly, and as if she would

never stop. Thereupon Dummling asked to have her for his wife;

but the king did not like the son-in-law, and made all manner of

excuses and said he must first produce a man who could drink a

cellarful of wine. Dummling thought of the little grey man, who

could certainly help him; so he went into the forest, and in the

same place where he had felled the tree, he saw a man sitting,

who had a very sorrowful face.