But at length there came a day when the cobbler could bear it no longer , and he threw away his last , and borrowing a rod from a neighbour he went out to fish . Now the cobbler was as patient about fishing as he had been about cobbling . From dawn to dark he stood on the banks of the little stream , without hooking anything better than an eel , or a few old shoes , that even he , clever though he was , felt were not worth mending . At length his patience began to give way , and as he undressed one night he said to himself : ` Well , I will give it one more chance ; and if I do n't catch a fish to-morrow , I will go and hang myself . ' He had not cast his line for ten minutes the next morning before he drew from the river the most beautiful fish he had ever seen in his life . But he nearly fell into the water from surprise , when the fish began to speak to him , in a small , squeaky voice : ` Take me back to your hut and cook me ; then cut me up , and sprinkle me over with pepper and salt . Give two of the pieces to your wife , and bury two more in the garden . ' The cobbler did not know what to make of these strange words ; but he was wiser than many people , and when he did not understand , he thought it was well to obey . His children wanted to eat all the fish themselves , and begged their father to tell them what to do with the pieces he had put aside ; but the cobbler only laughed , and told them it was no business of theirs . And when they were safe in bed he stole out and buried the two pieces in the garden . By and by two babies , exactly alike , lay in a cradle , and in the garden were two tall plants , with two brilliant shields on the top . Years passed away , and the babies were almost men . They were tired of living quietly at home , being mistaken for each other by everybody they saw , and determined to set off in different directions , to seek adventures . So , one fine morning , the two brothers left the hut , and walked together to the place where the great road divided . There they embraced and parted , promising that if anything remarkable had happened to either , he would return to the cross roads and wait till his brother came . The youth who took the path that ran eastwards arrived presently at a large city , where he found everybody standing at the doors , wringing their hands and weeping bitterly . ` What is the matter ? ' asked he , pausing and looking round . And a man replied , in a faltering voice , that each year a beautiful girl was chosen by lot to be offered up to a dreadful fiery dragon , who had a mother even worse than himself , and this year the lot had fallen on their peerless princess . ` But where IS the princess ? '
said the young man once more , and again the man answered him : ` She is standing under a tree , a mile away , waiting XXXXX the dragon . '
By as at for from if in into of that