It was all very well to plan , and even to station a watchman behind every bush , but it was of no use , for the man was never caught . They would creep up to him softly on the grass , as he was stooping to fill his pail , and just as they stretched out their hands to seize him , he vanished before their eyes . Time after time this happened , till the king grew mad with rage , and offered a large reward to anyone who could tell him how to capture his enemy . The first person that came with a scheme was an old soldier who promised the king that if he would only put some bread and bacon and a flask of wine on the bank of the stream , the gold-bearded man would be sure to eat and drink , and they could shake some powder into the wine , which would send him to sleep at once . After that there was nothing to do but to shut him in the cage . This idea pleased the king , and he ordered bread and bacon and a flask of drugged wine to be placed on the bank of the stream , and the watchers to be redoubled . Then , full of hope , he awaited the result . Everything turned out just as the soldier had said . Early next morning the gold-bearded man came down to the brook , ate , drank , and fell sound asleep , so that the watchers easily bound him , and carried him off to the palace . In a moment the king had him fast in the golden cage , and showed him , with ferocious joy , to the strangers who were visiting his court . The poor captive , when he awoke from his drunken sleep , tried to talk to them , but no one would listen to him , so he shut himself up altogether , and the people who came to stare took him for a dumb man of the woods . He wept and moaned to himself all day , and would hardly touch food , though , in dread that he should die and escape his tormentors , the king ordered his head cook to send him dishes from the royal table . The gold-bearded man had been in captivity about a month , when the king was forced to make war upon a neighbouring country , and left the palace , to take command of his army . But before he went he called his stepson to him and said : ` Listen , boy , to what I tell you . While I am away I trust the care of my prisoner to you . See that he has plenty to eat and drink , but be careful that he does not escape , or even walk about the room . If I return and find him gone , you will pay for it by a terrible death . ' The young prince was thankful that his stepfather was going to the war , and secretly hoped he might never come back . Directly he had ridden off the boy went to the room where the cage was kept , and never left it night and day . He even played his games beside it .
One day he was shooting at a mark with a silver bow ; one XXXXX his arrows fell into the golden cage .
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