'Aye, aye!' said the man; 'now when you have walked a little farther
along the strand here, you'll come to three Princesses, whom you will
see standing in the earth up to their necks, with only their heads
out. Then the first--she is the eldest--will call out and beg you so
prettily to come and help her; and the second will do the same; to
neither of these shall you go; make haste past them, as if you
neither saw nor heard anything. But the third you shall go to, and do
what she asks. If you do this, you'll have good luck--that's all.'

When the lad came to the first Princess, she called out to him, and
begged him so prettily to come to her, but he passed on as though he
saw her not. In the same way he passed by the second; but to the
third he went straight up.

'If you'll do what I bid you', she said, 'you may have which of us
you please.'

'Yes'; he was willing enough; so she told him how three Trolls had
set them down in the earth there; but before they had lived in the
castle up among the trees.

'Now', she said, 'you must go into that castle, and let the Trolls
whip you each one night for each of us. If you can bear that, you'll
set us free.'

Well, the lad said he was ready to try.

'When you go in', the Princess went on to say, 'you'll see two lions
standing at the gate; but if you'll only go right in the middle
between them they'll do you no harm. Then go straight on into a