Atondido Stories
arms he had brought with him from the palace of the river giant.
With such a horse and such arms he carried off all the honours of
the tournament. Every one at the tournament wondered who the
strange cavalheiro could be. No one recognized him except the
youngest princess. She knew who it was the moment she saw
him and gave him her ribbon to wear.
The next day all the cavalheiros who had taken part in the
tournament set out to slay the wild beast which often came out
of the jungle to attack the city. It was the lad from the river who
killed the beast, as all the cavalheiros knew. When they returned
to the palace with the news that the beast had been slain, the
king said, “Tomorrow night we will hold the greatest festa which
this palace has ever witnessed. Tomorrow let all the cavalheiros
who are here assembled go forth to hunt for birds to grace our
table.”
The next day the cavalheiros went out to hunt the birds, and it
was the lad from the river who succeeded in slaying the birds.
None of the other cavalheiros were at all successful. The two
neighbouring princes who were suitors for the hand of the
youngest princess made a contract. “We cannot let this stranger
carry off all the honours,” said one to the other. “You say that
you killed the beast, and I will say that it was I who killed the
birds.”
That night at the festa one prince stood up before the king
and told his story of slaying the beast, and the other prince stood
up and told how he had killed the birds. The other cavalheiros
knew that it was false, but when they looked around for the
cavalheiro who had done the valiant deeds they could not find
him. The lad from the river had on his old clothes which he wore
as a servant in the garden and stood at the lower part of the ban-
quet hall among the servants.
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