TY - BOOK ID - 133398849 TI - English and Scottish Popular Ballads. PY - 2014 PB - [Place of publication not identified] : Project Gutenberg, DB - UniCat KW - Ballads, English UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:133398849 AB - Excerpt from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol. 1 of 5 They followed these directions the king gave his verdict, the ambassador acquiesced, the minister received splendid presents. For a final trial the unfriendly king sent a long stick of wood, of equal thickness, with no knots or marks, and asked which was the under and which the upper end. N 0 one could say. The minister referred the question to his daughter. She answered, Put the stick into water the root end will sink a little, the upper end float. The experiment was tried; the king said to the ambassador, This is the upper end, this the root end, to which he assented, and great presents were again given to the minister. The adverse monarch was convinced that his only safe course was peace and con ciliation, and sent his ambassador back once more with an offering of precious jewels and of amity for the future. This termination was highly gratifying to Rabssaldschal, who said to his minister, How could you see through all these things? The minister said, It was not I, but my clever daughter-in-law. When the king learned this, he raised the young woman to the rank of his younger sister. ER -