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 corner and gazed at him from there , and , in spite of being so famished , did not dare to touch him , but sucked its own paws from sheer hunger . The shepherd felt that if he once removed his eyes off the beast he was a dead man , and in order to keep himself awake he made songs and sang them , and so the night went by . Next morning the Lord Chamberlain came to see the shepherd 's bones , and was amazed to find him alive and well . He led him to the king , who fell into a furious passion , and said : ` Well , you have learned what it is to be very near death , and now will you say `` To my good health '' ? ' But the shepherd answered : ' I am not afraid of ten deaths ! I will only say it if I may have the princess for my wife . ' ` Then go to your death , ' cried the king ; and ordered him to be thrown into the den with the wild boars . The wild boars had not been fed for a week , and when the shepherd was thrust into their don they rushed at him to tear him to pieces . But the shepherd took a little flute out of the sleeve of his jacket and began to play a merry tune , on which the wild boars first of all shrank shyly away , and then got up on their hind legs and danced gaily . The shepherd would have given anything to be able to laugh , they looked so funny ; but he dared not stop playing , for he knew well enough that the moment he stopped they would fall upon him and tear him to pieces . His eyes were of no use to him here , for he could not have stared ten wild boars in the face at once ; so he kept on playing , and the wild boars danced very slowly , as if in a minuet , then by degrees he played faster and faster till they could hardly twist and turn quickly enough , and ended by all falling over each other in a heap , quite exhausted and out of breath . Then the shepherd ventured to laugh at last ; and he laughed so long and so loud that when the Lord Chamberlain came early in the morning , expecting to find only his bones , the tears were still running down his cheeks from laughter . As soon as the king was dressed the shepherd was again brought before him ; but he was more angry than ever to think the wild boars had not torn the man to bits , and he said : ` Well , you have learned what it feels to be near ten deaths , now say `` To my good health ! '' ' But the shepherd broke in with , ' I do not fear a hundred deaths , and I will only say it if I may have the princess for my wife . ' ` Then go to a hundred deaths ! ' roared the king , and ordered the shepherd to be thrown down the deep vault of scythes . The guards dragged him away to a dark dungeon , in the middle of which was a deep well with sharp scythes all round it . At the bottom of the well was a little light by which one could see if anyone was thrown in whether he had fallen to the bottom .
When the shepherd was dragged to the dungeons he begged the guards to leave him alone a little while that he might look down into the pit of XXXXX ; perhaps he might after all make up his mind to say ` To your good health ' to the king .
Chamberlain Lord boars fall first morning night pit scythes week