In no time all seven reached the castle. Everyone came out to look and
shouted with amazement. People rushed to the castle from all around and
they couldn't believe their eyes, which they opened very wide. The grubby
kitchen boy was there; and the old woman who darned the rags (she came
panting up, needle in hand); and the king, the queen, and the damsel too.
The king stared and stared, with his crown askew on his head. Though
amazed and frustrated, he'd given his word. He'd said what he'd said and
he'd had it announced with flourishes of trumpets. Could he refuse his
daughter to the one who came asking for her, quite simply and honestly,
with just the boat he himself had requested -- the one that went both on
land and on water?
 Folktales
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