And she went away . The king watched her till she was quite out of sight , so as to make sure that she was not spying upon him ; then he took the golden lion into his room and lifted some loose boards from the floor . Below the floor there was a staircase , which he went down till he reached a door at the foot . This he unlocked , and found himself in a narrow passage closed by another door , which he also opened . The young man , hidden in the golden lion , kept count of everything , and marked that there were in all seven doors . After they had all been unlocked the king entered a lovely hall , where the princess was amusing herself with eleven friends . All twelve girls wore the same clothes , and were as like each other as two peas . ` What bad luck ! ' thought the youth . ` Even supposing that I managed to find my way here again , I do n't see how I could ever tell which was the princess . ' And he stared hard at the princess as she clapped her hands with joy and ran up to them , crying , ' Oh , do let us keep that delicious beast for to-night ; it will make such a nice plaything . ' The king did not stay long , and when he left he handed over the lion to the maidens , who amused themselves with it for some time , till they got sleepy , and thought it was time to go to bed . But the princess took the lion into her own room and laid it on the floor . She was just beginning to doze when she heard a voice quite close to her , which made her jump . ' O lovely princess , if you only knew what I have gone through to find you ! ' The princess jumped out of bed screaming , ` The lion ! the lion ! ' but her friends thought it was a nightmare , and did not trouble themselves to get up . ' O lovely úprincess ! ' continued the voice , ` fear nothing !
I am the son of a rich merchant , and desire above all things to have you XXXXX my wife .
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