on this the proud heart of the maiden was filled with anger, and she meditated revenge. next morning she caused three hundred great bundles of wood to be got together, and said to the prince that though the three tasks were performed, she would still not be his wife until some one was ready to seat himself in the midst of the wood, and bear the fire. she thought that none of his servants would let themselves be burnt for him, and that out of love for her, he himself would place himself upon it, and then she would be free. but the servants said, "every one of us has done something except the frosty one, he must set to work," and they put him in the middle of the pile, and set fire to it. then the fire began to burn, and burnt for three days until all the wood was consumed, and when the flames had burnt out, the frosty one was standing amid the ashes, trembling like an aspen leaf, and saying, "i never felt such a frost during the whole course of my life; if it had lasted much longer, i should have been benumbed!"