'To mine, to mine, your Majesty,' was the answer.

'But to mine--to my own,' roared the king, and beat on his breast in
a rage.

'Well, yes; to mine, of course, to my own,' cried the shepherd, and
gently tapped his breast.

The king was beside himself with fury and did not know what to
do, when the Lord Chamberlain interfered:

'Say at once--say this very moment: "To your health, your
Majesty"; for if you don't say it you'll lose your life, whispered he.

'No, I won't say it till I get the princess for my wife,' was the
shepherd's answer. Now the princess was sitting on a little throne
beside the king, her father, and she looked as sweet and lovely as a
little golden dove. When she heard what the shepherd said she
could not help laughing, for there is no denying the fact that this
young shepherd with the staring eyes pleased her very much; indeed
he pleased her better than any king's son she had yet seen.

But the king was not as pleasant as his daughter, and he gave
orders to throw the shepherd into the white bear's pit.

The guards led him away and thrust him into the pit with the white
bear, who had had nothing to eat for two days and was very
hungry. The door of the pit was hardly closed when the bear
rushed at the shepherd; but when it saw his eyes it was so
frightened that it was ready to eat itself. It shrank away into a