` Nothing will have happened , ' said the girls . The father went away , and the following day the king , accompanied by two friends , paid a visit to the three girls , who were sitting at supper . When they saw who was there , Maria said , ` Let us go and get a bottle of wine from the cellar . I will carry the key , my eldest sister can take the light , while the other brings the bottle . ' But the king replied , ` Oh , do not trouble ; we are not thirsty . ' ` Very well , we will not go , ' answered the two elder girls ; but Maria merely said , ' I shall go , anyhow . ' She left the room , and went to the hall where she put out the light , and putting down the key and the bottle , ran to the house of a neighbour , and knocked at the door . ` Who is there so late ? ' asked the old woman , thrusting her head out of the window . ` Oh , let me in , ' answered Maria . ' I have quarrelled with my eldest sister , and as I do not want to fight any more , I have come to beg you to allow me to sleep with you . ' So the old woman opened the door and Maria slept in her house . The king was very angry at her for playing truant , but when she returned home the next day , she found the plants of her sisters withered away , because they had disobeyed their father . Now the window in the room of the eldest overlooked the gardens of the king , and when she saw how fine and ripe the medlars were on the trees , she longed to eat some , and begged Maria to scramble down by a rope and pick her a few , and she would draw her up again . Maria , who was good-natured , swung herself into the garden by the rope , and got the medlars , and was just making the rope fast under her arms so as to be hauled up , when her sister cried : ` Oh , there are such delicious lemons a little farther on . You might bring me one or two . ' Maria turned round to pluck them , and found herself face to face with the gardener , who caught hold of her , exclaiming , ` What are you doing here , you little thief ? ' ` Do n't call me names , ' she said , ` or you will get the worst of it , ' giving him as she spoke such a violent push that he fell panting into the lemon bushes . Then she seized the cord and clambered up to the window . The next day the second sister had a fancy for bananas and begged so hard , that , though Maria had declared she would never do such a thing again , at last she consented , and went down the rope into the king 's garden .
This time she met the king , who said XXXXX her , ` Ah , here you are again , cunning one !
So as because down of that though to while with