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“Does a magician live here?” asked the prince.

“No one lives here but myself,” said the hermit, “but I am old, and have meditated much. My advice is at your service if you need it.”

The prince then related his history, and how he was now seeking the magician godfather, to rid himself of his gift.

“And yet that will not cure your temper,” said the hermit. “It were better that you employed yourself in learning to control that, and to use your power prudently.”

“No, no,” replied the prince; “I must find the magician.”

And when the hermit pressed his advice, he cried, “Provoke me not, good father, or I may be base enough to wish you ill; and the evil I do I cannot undo.”

And he departed, followed by his friend, and calling his dog. But the dog seated himself at the hermit’s feet, and would not move. Again and again the prince called him, but he only whined and wagged his tail, and refused to move. Coaxing and scolding were both in vain, and when at last the prince tried to drag him off by force, the dog growled.

“Base brute!” cried the prince, flinging him from him in a transport of rage. “How have I been so deceived in you? I wish you were hanged!” And even as he spoke the dog vanished, and as the prince turned his head he saw the poor beast’s body dangling from a tree above him. The sight overwhelmed him, and he began bitterly to lament his cruelty.

“Will no one hang me also,” he cried, “and rid the world of such a monster?”

“It is easier to die repenting than to live amending,” said the hermit; “yet is the latter course the better one. Wherefore abide with me, my son, and learn in solitude those lessons of self-government without which no man is fit to rule others.”

“It is impossible,” said the prince. “These fits of passion are as a madness that comes upon me, and they are beyond cure. It only remains to find my godfather, that he may make me less baneful to others by taking away the power I abuse.” And raising the body of the dog tenderly in his arms, he laid it before him on his horse, and rode away, the dumb nobleman following him.

They now entered the dominions of another king, and in due time arrived at the capital. The prince presented himself to the king, and asked if he had a magician in his kingdom.

“Not to my knowledge,” replied the king. “But I have a remarkably wise daughter, and if you want counsel she may be able to help you.”

The princess accordingly was sent for, and she was so beautiful, as well as witty, that the prince fell in love with her, and begged the king to give her to him to wife. The king, of course, was unable to refuse what the prince wished, and the wedding was celebrated without delay; and by the advice of his wife the prince placed the body of his faithful dog in a glass coffin, and kept it near him, that he might constantly be reminded of the evil results of giving way to his anger.

For a time all went well. At first the prince never said a harsh word to his wife; but by and by familiarity made him less careful, and one day she said something that offended him, and he fell into a violent rage. As he went storming up and down, the princess wrung her hands, and cried, “Ah, my dear husband, I beg of you to be careful what you say to me. You say you loved your dog, and yet you know where he lies.”

“I know that I wish you were with him, with your prating!” cried the prince, in a fury; and the words were scarcely out of his mouth when the princess vanished from his side, and when he ran to the glass coffin, there she lay, pale and lifeless, with her head upon the body of the hound.