After three days the knight perceived the castle, and all was accomplished. The King rejoiced that he had demanded these things, and presently he heard the hounds barking. His attendants told him that a stag was in sight. Then the King mounted the black horse, called the black dog, took the black falcon on his hand, and hung the black horn round his neck. As soon as he saw the stag he blew the horn, and pursued it with his horse. The stag, however, ran at full speed down a precipice, and the King went after it, and was never seen again. From a Viennese MS. in Latin, of the Gesta R. Cod. univ. No. 172, folio 248; and in the German edit. chap. 34. It also occurs in the stories of Nicolaus, 1470; but the Gesta Romanorum is the source from whence he took it. Communicated by Hagen in Büsching's Erzählungen und Schwänken, pp. 124-126. In Grässe, 2. 208. Compare Die Sage vom Tode Dieterichs von Bern.
14. A king has a beautiful daughter, who will only marry the man who can solve three problems. Many present themselves, but are unable to do this. A knight comes likewise, accompanied only by one servant, and with a sick horse. In the first place he is to say how many feet of length, breadth, and height there are in the four elements. The knight orders his servant to lie down, measures him from head to foot, and then replies, "Seven feet long and half a foot broad are the four elements which are united in man." Secondly, "What would make the North Wind blow another way?" He sprinkles a powder in the nostrils of his unmanageable horse, which restores him to health again, and then turns his snorting head to the east, and says, "The wind is changed to the east, for the life of a beast is its breath." Thirdly, he is to carry red-hot coals in his breast next to the skin, without burning himself with them. This he is able to perform, because he carries a stone about him which has power to protect him from all danger from fire or water. Hereupon he receives the King's daughter. Chap. 70, according to the MS. in Vienna, folio 249.
The English Gesta Romanorum which has been revised and furnished with new pieces, gives another story, differing it is true in some respects, but based on similar incidents, see Grässe's translation, pp. 230, 231. The Emperor Andronicus puts three perplexing questions to a knight who has been unjustly accused, which he is to answer accurately under penalty of death. 1. How far it is from Heaven to Hell?" "As far as a sigh is from the heart." "How deep is the sea?" "A stone's throw." "How many flagons of salt water are there in the sea?" "First tell me how many flagons of fresh water there are, and then I will tell you." The knight is to explain his answers more fully. He says, 1. "A sigh passes from the heart with the rapidity of lightning." 2. "The stone because it is heavy falls at once to the bottom of
