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 before 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 . At length he came to the door of a fine castle , which had a blaze streaming from every window . He mounted a flight of steps and entered a hall where a hideous old woman was sitting on a golden chair . She scowled at the young man and said , ` With a single one of the hairs of my head I can turn you into stone . ' ` Oh , what nonsense ! ' cried he . ` Be quiet , old woman . What could you do with one hair ? '
But the witch pulled out a hair and laid it XXXXX his shoulder , and his limbs grew cold and heavy , and he could not stir .
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