Ah ! how merrily the sailors sang as they flew over the glassy sea ! At last the port was reached . The captain landed and ran to the palace , where he found the wicked old man asleep . The Princess clasped her husband in a long embrace . The magician tried to escape , but he was seized and bound with strong cords . The next day the sorcerer , tied to the tail of a savage mule loaded with nuts , was broken into as many pieces as there were nuts upon the mule 's back . -LRB- 1 -RRB- -LRB- 1 -RRB- Traditions Populaires de l'Asie Mineure . Carnoy et Nicolaides . Paris : Maisonneuve , 1889 . PRINCE HYACINTH AND THE DEAR LITTLE PRINCESS Once upon a time there lived a king who was deeply in love with a princess , but she could not marry anyone , because she was under an enchantment . So the King set out to seek a fairy , and asked what he could do to win the Princess 's love . The Fairy said to him : `` You know that the Princess has a great cat which she is very fond of . Whoever is clever enough to tread on that cat 's tail is the man she is destined to marry . '' The King said to himself that this would not be very difficult , and he left the Fairy , determined to grind the cat 's tail to powder rather than not tread on it at all . You may imagine that it was not long before he went to see the Princess , and puss , as usual , marched in before him , arching his back . The King took a long step , and quite thought he had the tail under his foot , but the cat turned round so sharply that he only trod on air . And so it went on for eight days , till the King began to think that this fatal tail must be full of quicksilver -- it was never still for a moment . At last , however , he was lucky enough to come upon puss fast asleep and with his tail conveniently spread out . So the King , without losing a moment , set his foot upon it heavily .
With one terrific yell the cat sprang up and instantly changed into a tall man , who , fixing his angry eyes upon the King , said : `` You shall marry the Princess because you have been able XXXXX break the enchantment , but I will have my revenge .
So at before in into on than to under upon