I am wanting to play a game with the curly-haired Gruagach , ' said he . ` Are you , indeed ? ' replied the wizard . ` If you will take my counsel , you will play with someone else . ' ` No ; I will play with the Gruagach , ' persisted the king . ` Well , if you must , you must , I suppose , ' answered the wizard ; ` but if you win that game , ask as a prize the ugly crop-headed girl that stands behind the door . ' ' I will , ' said the king . So before the sun rose he got up and went to the house of the Gruagach , who was sitting outside . ' O king , what has brought you here to-day ? ' asked the Gruagach . ` But right welcome you are , and more welcome will you be still if you will play a game with me . ' ` That is just what I want , ' said the king , and they played ; and sometimes it seemed as if one would win , and sometimes the other , but in the end it was the king who was the winner . ` And what is the prize that you will choose ? ' inquired the Gruagach . ` The ugly crop-headed girl that stands behind the door , ' replied the king . ` Why , there are twenty others in the house , and each fairer than she ! ' exclaimed the Gruagach . ` Fairer they may be , but it is she whom I wish for my wife , and none other , ' and the Gruagach saw that the king 's mind was set upon her , so he entered his house , and bade all the maidens in it come out one by one , and pass before the king . One by one they came ; tall and short , dark and fair , plump and thin , and each said ' I am she whom you want . You will be foolish indeed if you do not take me . '
But he took none XXXXX them , neither short nor tall , dark nor fair , plump nor thin , till at the last the crop-headed girl came out .
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