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was gobsmacked by this retort and no longer knew what he should say. So he was done for, he was led out through the other door and strung up on the gallows.
So Povl came in. He couldn't help thinking about what had happened to Per in the wink of an eye; and yet he stepped forward bravely and began: "Good day, Your Highness!"—"Well, you're going to a high place yourself, you muck-stopper!" said the Princess. So he was stumped. "Don't forget what you were going to say!" added the Princess scornfully; but now Povl had nothing at all to say. So out he went through the other door and was strung up next to Per.
"Are there any more suitors?" asked the Princess. Yes, the door swung open, and in came Esben Ashpuffer, all sweaty and grimy as he was. He had had to trot the whole way. When he came to the palace, the guard showed him all the gallows, where the suitors hung cheek by jowl. But he lost no time in looking at them, he had to go right in to the Princess, he said, and in he came.
"Good day, Miss Cheeky!" said Esben, "it's awfully warm in here by you."—"It's no warmer here today than it was yesterday," said the Princess. "What do you use all this heat for?" says Esben, "here it's enough to roast a pig." "Well, yesterday my father roasted eighteen hogs; today we've still only roasted two," said the Princess. "That's good," says Esben, "so I can get this little fowl roasted too," and he pulls the dead crow up out of his pocket. "No, that'll split open," says the Princess. "Here's a cinch for that," says Esben, "so it will hold together;" and he takes out the clog-ring.—"The grease will run out the end of it," says the Princess. "So we'll plug up the hole with a stopper," says Esben, and the bottle-stopper made
