` Well , that is not worth much , my dear , ' said he . ` Besides , you have rings enough , I should think . ' ` Never mind , I like it , ' replied the princess . But as soon as she was alone , to her amazement , the ring suddenly left her finger and became a man . You can imagine how frightened she was , as , indeed , anybody would have been ; but in an instant the man became a ring again , and then turned back to a man , and so it went on for some time until she began to get used to these sudden changes . ' I am sorry I frightened you , ' said Hans , when he thought he could safely speak to the princess without making her scream . ' I took refuge with you because the old hill-man , whom I have offended , was trying to kill me , and here I am safe . ' ` You had better stay here then , ' said the princess . So Hans stayed , and he and she became good friends ; though , of course , he only became a man when no one else was present . This was all very well ; but , one day , as they were talking together , the king happened to enter the room , and although Hans quickly changed himself into a ring again it was too late . The king was terribly angry . ` So this is why you have refused to marry all the kings and princes who have sought your hand ? ' he cried . And , without waiting for her to speak , he commanded that his daughter should be walled up in the summer-house and starved to death with her lover . That evening the poor princess , still wearing her ring , was put into the summer-house with enough food to last for three days , and the door was bricked up . But at the end of a week or two the king thought it was time to give her a grand funeral , in spite of her bad behaviour , and he had the summer-house opened . He could hardly believe his eyes when he found that the princess was not there , nor Hans either . Instead , there lay at his feet a large hole , big enough for two people to pass through . Now what had happened was this . When the princess and Hans had given up hope , and cast themselves down on the ground to die , they fell down this hole , and right through the earth as well , and at last they tumbled into a castle built of pure gold at the other side of the world , and there they lived happily .
But XXXXX this , of course , the king knew nothing .
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