DANISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES
youngest of them was especially urged by the king to seek a wife, as his father was advanced in age, and he was to be his successor. It was decided that the two young men should go into the wide world and seek their wives in the neighboring countries. At length the youngest went away alone, as the king wished to keep one of them to assist him in his duties, of which we know all kings have a great deal.
So the young prince left home, and walked far away, until he reached a house in a large forest, where the wise man without a heart lived undisturbed. It was towards evening, so he knocked at the door and asked the old philosopher, who was by this time over a hundred years old, to give him a bed for the night. He also told him that he was a prince and accustomed to have his will. The old man reluctantly bid him enter, and his surprise may be imagined when he found himself in a spacious study filled with the queerest treasures and specimens that had ever met his glance. He turned to his old host, inquiring, "Do you live here quite alone?" "Yes," was the answer; "there is no one but myself living inside these walls, and I care for no companions."
The prince seated himself in a comfortable chair, and continued: "But where are your wife and children? How can you live without them?"
"I have never married," replied the wise man, smiling grimly, "and I never shall. My time is too
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