Sayfa 490 / 626

Meanwhile the princess was eagerly waiting till her deliverer

should come back; and had a road made leading up to her palace

all of shining gold; and told her courtiers that whoever came on

horseback, and rode straight up to the gate upon it, was her true

lover; and that they must let him in: but whoever rode on one

side of it, they must be sure was not the right one; and that

they must send him away at once.

The time soon came, when the eldest brother thought that he would

make haste to go to the princess, and say that he was the one who

had set her free, and that he should have her for his wife, and

the kingdom with her. As he came before the palace and saw the

golden road, he stopped to look at it, and he thought to himself,

'It is a pity to ride upon this beautiful road'; so he turned

aside and rode on the right-hand side of it. But when he came to

the gate, the guards, who had seen the road he took, said to him,

he could not be what he said he was, and must go about his

business.