when they had eaten and drunk, and were merry, the aged king asked the waiting-maid as a riddle, what a person deserved who had behaved in such and such a way to her master, and at the same time related the whole story, and asked what sentence such an one merited? then the false bride said, "she deserves no better fate than to be stripped entirely naked, and put in a barrel which is studded inside with pointed nails, and two white horses should be harnessed to it, which will drag her along through one street after another, till she is dead." "it is thou," said the aged king, "and thou hast pronounced thine own sentence, and thus shall it be done unto thee." and when the sentence had been carried out, the young king married his true bride, and both of them reigned over their kingdom in peace and happiness.