And the slave was called upon to tell how he had slain the monster , and when he had ended the king declared that he should have the princess to wife . But she flung herself at her father 's feet , and prayed him to delay . ` You have passed your royal word , and can not go back from it Yet grant me this grace , and let seven years and seven months go by before you wed me . When they are over , then I will marry the slave . ' And the king listened to her , and seven years and seven months she looked for her bridegroom , and wept for him night and day . All this time the young man was riding through the world , and when the seven years and seven months were over he came back to the town where the princess lived -- only a few days before the wedding . And he stood before the king , and said to him : ` Give me your daughter , O king , for I slew the seven-headed serpent . And as a sign that my words are true , look on these seven tongues , which I cut from his seven heads , and on this embroidered cloth , which was given me by your daughter . ' Then the princess lifted up her voice and said , ` Yes , dear father , he has spoken the truth , and it is he who is my real bridegroom . Yet pardon the slave , for he was sorely tempted . ' But the king answered , ` Such treachery can no man pardon . Quick , away with him , and off with his head ! ' So the false slave was put to death , that none might follow in his footsteps , and the wedding feast was held , and the hearts of all rejoiced that the true bridegroom had come at last . These two lived happy and contentedly for a long while , when one evening , as the young man was looking from the window , he saw on a mountain that lay out beyond the town a great bright light . ` What can it be ? ' he said to his wife . ` Ah ! do not look at it , ' she answered , ` for it comes from the house of a wicked witch whom no man can manage to kill . ' But the princess had better have kept silence , for her words made her husband 's heart burn within him , and he longed to try his strength against the witch 's cunning . And all day long the feeling grew stronger , till the next morning he mounted his horse , and in spite of his wife 's tears , he rode off to the mountain .
The distance was greater than he thought , and it was dark XXXXX he reached the foot of the mountain ; indeed , he could not have found the road at all had it not been for the bright light , which shone like the moon on his path .
So against before beyond for in that to with within