I have brought you such a nice present , ' he said to his daughters , and as the boy was very pretty they were delighted to have him and gave him all their best toys . ` You must not spoil him , ' observed the king one day , when he had been watching them playing together . He has a secret which he wo n't tell to anyone . ' ` He will tell me , ' answered the eldest princess ; but the boy only shook his head . ` He will tell me , ' said the second girl . ` Not I , ' replied the boy . ` He will tell me , ' cried the youngest , who was the prettiest too . ' I will tell nobody till it comes true , ' said the boy , as he had said before ; ` and I will beat anybody who asks me . ' The king was very sorry when he heard this , for he loved the boy dearly ; but he thought it would never do to keep anyone near him who would not do as he was bid . So he commanded his servants to take him away and not to let him enter the palace again until he had come to his right senses . The sword clanked loudly as the boy was led away , but the child said nothing , though he was very unhappy at being treated so badly when he had done nothing . However , the servants were very kind to him , and their children brought him fruit and all sorts of nice things , and he soon grew merry again , and lived amongst them for many years till his seventeenth birthday . Meanwhile the two eldest princesses had become women , and had married two powerful kings who ruled over great countries across the sea . The youngest one was old enough to be married too , but she was very particular , and turned up her nose at all the young princes who had sought her hand . One day she was sitting in the palace feeling rather dull and lonely , and suddenly she began to wonder what the servants were doing , and whether it was not more amusing down in their quarters . The king was at his council and the queen was ill in bed , so there was no one to stop the princess , and she hastily ran across the gardens to the houses where the servants lived . Outside she noticed a youth who was handsomer than any prince she had ever seen , and in a moment she knew him to be the little boy she had once played with . ` Tell me your secret and I will marry you , ' she said to him ; but the boy only gave her the beating he had promised her long ago , when she asked him the same question . The girl was very angry , besides being hurt , and ran home to complain to her father . ` If he had a thousand souls , I would kill them all , ' swore the king .
That very XXXXX a gallows was built outside the town , and all the people crowded round to see the execution of the young man who had dared to beat the king 's daughter .
day father princesses queen right sea second seventeenth souls years