So he took his people and went into the
forest. They came to a firwood. There were three wild beasts, and three
lairs had been formed by wallowing as they lay. Two did nothing: but the
third destroyed the people. So they took some stones and some pine-cones
in their pockets, and climbed up into a tree; and when the beasts lay
down, they dropped a stone down upon that one which was the unicorn. He
said to the next: "Be quiet; don't butt me." It said: "I'm not doing
anything to you." Again they let a stone fall from above upon the
unicorn. "Be quiet! you've already done it to me twice." "Indeed, I'm
doing nothing to you." So they attacked each other and fought together.
The unicorn wanted to pierce the second beast through; but it jumped out
of the way, and he rushed so violently after it, that he struck his horn
into a tree, and couldn't pull it out quickly. So they sprang speedily
down from the fir, and the other two beasts ran away and escaped, but
they cut off the head of the third, the unicorn, took it up, and carried
it to the castle.
Now those in the castle saw that George had again accomplished that
task. "What, prithee, shall we do? Perhaps we must after all give him
the damsel!" "No, sire," said one of the attendants, "that cannot be; he
is too lowborn to obtain a king's daughter! On the contrary, we must
clear him out of the world.
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