THE PLENTIFUL TABLECLOTH 349

asleep, but as they were about to tie his hands he turned his
hat round and said:

“© Magic Helmet, never thou
Dost want for powder nor shot,
Allay my fears and fire now
Just where I point. Fail not.”

Instantly a hundred bullets whistled through the air, amid
clouds of smoke and loud reports. Many of the soldiers fell
dead, others took refuge in the wood, whence they returned
to the king to give an account of what had taken place.

Whereupon the king flew into a violent rage, furious that
he had as yet failed to take the fool. But his wish to possess
the feast-giving tablecloth, the magic wand, the lake-forming
sash, and above all the helmet with twenty-four horns, was
stronger than ever.

Having reflected for some days on the best ways and
means to attain his object, he resolved to try the effect of
kindness, and sent for the fool’s mother.

“Tell your son, the fool,” said his majesty to the woman,
“that my charming daughter and I send greeting, and that we
shall consider it an honour if he will come here and show us
the marvellous things he possesses. Should he feel inclined
to make me a present of them, I will give him half my kingdom
and will make him my heir. You may also say that the
princess, my daughter, will choose him for her husband.”

The good woman hastened home to her son, whom she
advised to accept the king’s invitation and show him his -
treasures. The fool wound the waistband round his loins,
put the helmet on his head, hid the tablecloth in his breast,