'Dear me, I have nothing of any importance to tell you,' said the old
man, 'and I am sure we should never have made so bold as to
trouble you at all if it hadn't been for the youngest of our two sons
here.'

'Never mind that,' said the steward; ' you are very welcome if you
will only tell me the story of your life.'

'Well, well, I will,' said he, 'but there is nothing to tell about it. I
and my wife have lived all our days on a moor in North Jutland,
until this last year, when she took a fancy to go to Rome. We set
out with our two sons but turned back long before we got there,
and are now on our way home again. That's all my own story, and
our two sons have lived with us all their days, so there is nothing
more to be told about them either.'

'Yes there is,' said Rasmus; 'when we were on our way south, we
slept in the wood near here one night, and I shot a stag.'

The steward was so much accustomed to hearing stories of no
importance that he thought there was no use going further with
this, but reported to the princess that the newcomers had nothing to
tell.

'Did you question them all?' she said.

'Well, no; not directly,' said he; 'but the father said that none of
them could tell me any more than he had done.'