` Well , well , I will , ' said he , ` but there is nothing to tell about it . I and my wife have lived all our days on a moor in North Jutland , until this last year , when she took a fancy to go to Rome . We set out with our two sons but turned back long before we got there , and are now on our way home again . That 's all my own story , and our two sons have lived with us all their days , so there is nothing more to be told about them either . ' ` Yes there is , ' said Rasmus ; ` when we were on our way south , we slept in the wood near here one night , and I shot a stag . ' The steward was so much accustomed to hearing stories of no importance that he thought there was no use going further with this , but reported to the princess that the newcomers had nothing to tell . ` Did you question them all ? ' she said . ` Well , no ; not directly , ' said he ; ` but the father said that none of them could tell me any more than he had done . ' ` You are getting careless , ' said the princess ; ' I shall go and talk to them myself . ' Niels knew the princess again as soon as she entered the room , and was greatly alarmed , for he immediately supposed that all this was a device to discover the person who had run away with the sword , the slipper and the half of the handkerchief , and that it would fare badly with him if he were discovered . So he told his story much the same as the others did -LRB- Niels was not very particular -RRB- , and thought he had escaped all further trouble , when Rasmus put in his word . ` You 've forgotten something , Niels , ' he said ; ` you remember you found a sword near here that night I shot the stag . ' ` Where is the sword ? ' said the princess . ' I know , ' said the steward , ' I saw where he laid it down when they came in ; ' and off he went to fetch it , while Niels wondered whether he could make his escape in the meantime . Before he had made up his mind , however , the steward was back with the sword , which the princess recognised at once . ` Where did you get this ? ' she said to Niels . Niels was silent , and wondered what the usual penalty was for a poor sheep-farmer 's son who was so unfortunate as to deliver a princess and carry off things from her bed-room .
` See what else he has XXXXX him , ' said the princess to the steward , and Niels had to submit to be searched : out of one pocket came a gold-embroidered slipper , and out of another the half of a gold-hemmed handkerchief .
So about as at before for if off that to