The dove then spoke for the first time and said , ` Take that knife and cut off my head , but be careful that not a single drop of blood falls to the ground . Afterwards you must throw it into the sea . ' Wondering at this strange order , the prince picked up his knife and severed the dove 's head from her body at one stroke . A little while after a dove rose from the water with a ring in its beak , and laying it in the prince 's hand , dabbled itself with the blood that was in the basin , when its head became that of a beautiful girl . Another moment and it had vanished completely , and the prince took the ring and made his way back to the palace . The king stared with surprise at the sight of the ring , but he thought of another way of getting rid of the young man which was surer even than the other two . ` This evening you will mount my colt and ride him to the field , and break him in properly . ' The prince received this command as silently as he had received the rest , but no sooner was he in his room than he called for the dove , who said : ` Attend to me . My father longs to see you dead , and thinks he will kill you by this means . He himself is the colt , my mother is the saddle , my two sisters are the stirrups , and I am the bridle . Do not forget to take a good club , to help you in dealing with such a crew . ' So the prince mounted the colt , and gave him such a beating that when he came to the palace to announce that the animal was now so meek that it could be ridden by the smallest child , he found the king so bruised that he had to be wrapped in cloths dipped in vinegar , the mother was too stiff to move , and several of the daughters ' ribs were broken . The youngest , however , was quite unharmed . That night she came to the prince and whispered to him : ` Now that they are all in too much pain to move , we had better seize our chance and run away . Go to the stable and saddle the leanest horse you can find there . ' But the prince was foolish enough to choose the fattest : and when they had started and the princess saw what he had done , she was very sorry , for though this horse ran like the wind , the other flashed like thought . However , it was dangerous to go back , and they rode on as fast as the horse would go . In the night the king sent for his youngest daughter , and as she did not come he sent again ; but she did not come any the more for that . The queen , who was a witch , discovered that her daughter had gone off with the prince , and told her husband he must leave his bed and go after them . The king got slowly up , groaning with pain , and dragged himself to the stables , where he saw the lean horse still in his stall .
Leaping on his back he shook the reins , and his daughter , who knew what to expect and had her eyes open , saw the horse start forward , and in the twinkling of an eye changed her own steed into a cell , the prince into a hermit , and herself XXXXX a nun .
So after as at by into on than to with