But the brothers rode on so fast that dust and
sparks flew all around,
and they reached the gate of the town a good hour before
Blockhead-Hans.
Here came the suitors numbered according to their arrival, and
they were ranged in rows,
six in each row, and they were so tightly packed that
they could not move their arms.
This was a very good thing, for otherwise they
would have torn each other in pieces,
merely because the one was in front of the
other.
All the country people were standing round the
king's throne,
and were crowded together in thick masses almost out of the
windows to see the princess receive the suitors;
and as each one came into the
room all his fine phrases went out like a candle!
"It doesn't matter!" said the princess.
"Away! out with him!"
At last she came to the row in which the brother
who knew the dictionary by heart was,
but he did not know it any longer; he had
quite forgotten it in the rank and file.
And the floor creaked, and the ceiling
was all made of glass mirrors,
so that he saw himself standing on his head,
and
by each window were standing three reporters and an editor;
and each of them was
writing down what was said,
to publish it in the paper that came out and was
sold at the street corners for a penny.
It was fearful, and they had made up the fire so hot that it was grilling.
"It is hot in here, isn't it!" said the
suitor.
"Of course it is! My father is roasting
young chickens to-day!" said the princess.
"Ahem!" There he stood like an idiot. He was not prepared for such a speech;
he did not know what to say, although he
wanted to say something witty. "Ahem!"
"It doesn't matter!" said the princess.
"Take him out!" and out he had to go.
Now the other brother entered.
"How hot it is!" he said.
"Of course! We are roasting young chickens
to-day!" remarked the princess.
"How do you—um!" he said, and the
reporters wrote down. "How do you—um."
"It doesn't matter!" said the princess.
"Take him out!"
Now Blockhead-Hans came in; he rode his goat
right into the hall.
"I say! How roasting hot it is here!"
said he.
"Of course! I am roasting young chickens
to-day!" said the princess.
"That's good!" replied Blockhead-Hans; "then can I roast a crow with them?"
"With the greatest of pleasure!" said
the princess;
"but have you anything you can roast them in? for I have
neither pot nor saucepan."
"Oh, rather!" said Blockhead-Hans.
"Here is a cooking implement with tin rings," and he drew out the old
wooden shoe, and laid the crow in it.
"That is quite a meal!" said the
princess; "but where shall we get the soup from?"
"I've got that in my pocket!" said
Blockhead-Hans.
"I have so much that I can quite well throw some
away!" and he poured some mud out of his pocket.
"I like you!" said the princess.
"You can answer, and you can speak, and I will marry you;
but do you know
that every word, which we are saying
and have said has been taken down and will
be in the paper to-morrow?
By each window do you see there are standing three
reporters and an old editor,
and this old editor is the worst, for he doesn't
understand anything!"
but she only said this to tease Blockhead-Hans.
And
the reporters giggled, and each dropped a blot of ink on the floor.
"Ah! are those the great people?" said
Blockhead-Hans. "Then I will give the editor the best!"
So saying, he
turned his pockets inside out, and threw the mud right in his face.
"That was neatly done!" said the
princess. "I couldn't have done it; but I will soon learn how to!"
Blockhead-Hans became king, got a wife and a
crown, and sat on the throne;
and this we have still damp from the newspaper of
the editor and the reporters,
and they are not to be believed for a moment.