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'Oh! oh! screamed the hag, 'what has become of my eye? 'What will you give me', asked Shortshanks, 'if you get your eye back? 'I'll give you a sword, and such a sword! It will put a whole army to flight, be it ever so great', answered the old woman. 'Out with it, then! said Shortshanks. So the old hag gave him the sword, and got her eye back again.
So each laid his tokens before the king, and the king said: 'The man who has such precious stores of gold, and silver, and diamonds, must have slain the Ogre, and spoiled his goods, for such things are not to be had elsewhere. So Ritter Red was thrown into a pit full of snakes, and Shortshanks was to have the Princess and half the kingdom.
So Shortshanks had scarce got down to the strand, when the Ogre came tearing along in his ship, so that the wind howled and roared around him; he was twice as big as the other Ogre, and he had ten heads on his shoulders. 'Fire and flame! screamed the Ogre. Fire and flame yourself! answered Shortshanks. 'Can you fight? roared the Ogre. 'If I can't, I can learn', said Shortshanks.
Now everything went as it had been agreed between Shortshanks and the Princess; he spilled a drop on Ritter Red's plate, but none on hers, and each time Ritter Red got wroth and struck him.
Yes! the king said he should have them, but he was afraid there wasn't a ship in his kingdom big enough to carry such a freight. 'Oh! if that's all', said Shortshanks, 'I have a ship of my own. With that he whipped out of his pocket the ship he had got from the old hag.
But when Shortshanks had walked a little way, he thought it might be worth while to try his ship; so he took it out of his pocket, and put first one foot into it, and then the other; and as soon as ever he set one foot into it, it began to grow bigger and bigger, and by the time he set the other foot into it, it was as big as other ships that sail on the sea.
Then Shortshanks said: 'Off and away, over fresh water and salt water, over high hills and deep dales, and don't stop till you come to the king's palace. And lo! away went the ship as swiftly as a bird through the air, till it came down a little below the king's palace, and there it stopped.
Then you may fancy what mirth and joy there was, and the king was at his wits' end to know how to show Ritter Red honour and favour enough. This time, too, Shortshanks took a whole armful of gold and silver rings from the Ogre's ship, and when he came back to the palace the kitchen-maid clapped her hands in wonder, asking wherever he got all that gold and silver from.
Shortshanks did as she told him, and he had scarce crept into the side-room before the Ogre came in. 'HUF! said the Ogre; 'what a horrid smell of Christian man's blood! 'Yes! said the Princess, 'I know there is, for a bird flew over the house with a Christian man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the chimney.
'My! said Shortshanks, 'that was something like a blow; but now you shall see a stroke of mine. As he said that, he grasped his sword, and cut off all the Ogre's fifteen heads at one blow, and sent them all dancing over the sand. So the Princess was freed from all the Ogres, and she both blessed and thanked Shortshanks for saving her life.
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