So he ordered the princess to be brought before him , and the young man also , and when they entered the throne room he was so pleased with the noble air of the victor that his wrath quite melted away , and he ran to him and embraced him . ` Tell me who you are ? ' he asked , when he had recovered himself a little , ` for I will never believe that you have not royal blood in your veins . ' But the prince still had his reasons for being silent , and only told the same story . However , the king had taken such a fancy to the youth that he said no more , and the marriage took place the following day , and great herds of cattle and a large estate were given to the young couple . After a little while the prince said to his wife : ` My life is in the hands of three creatures -- a crocodile , a serpent , and a dog . ' ` Ah , how rash you are ! ' cried the princess , throwing her arms round his neck . ` If you know that , how can you have that horrid beast about you ? I will give orders to have him killed at once . ' But the prince would not listen to her . ` Kill my dear little dog , who had been my playfellow since he was a puppy ? ' exclaimed he . ` Oh , never would I allow that . ' And all that the princess could get from him was that he would always wear a sword , and have somebody with him when he left the palace . When the prince and princess had been married a few months , the prince heard that his stepmother was dead , and his father was old and ill , and longing to have his eldest son by his side again . The young man could not remain deaf to such a message , and he took a tender farewell of his wife , and set out on his journey home . It was a long way , and he was forced to rest often on the road , and so it happened that , one night , when he was sleeping in a city on the banks of the great river , a huge crocodile came silently up and made its way along a passage to the prince 's room . Fortunately one of his guards woke up as it was trying to steal past them , and shut the crocodile up in a large hall , where a giant watched over it , never leaving the spot except during the night , when the crocodile slept . And this went on for more than a month .
Now , when the prince found that he was not likely XXXXX leave his father 's kingdom again , he sent for his wife , and bade the messenger tell her that he would await her coming in the town on the banks of the great river .
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