the beams groaned as if they were being torn out of their joints, it seemed as if the staircase were falling down, and at length there was a crash as if the entire roof had fallen in. as, however, all grew quiet once more, and the girl was not hurt, she stayed quietly lying where she was, and fell asleep again. but when she woke up in the morning with the brilliancy of the sunshine, what did her eyes behold? she was lying in a vast hall, and everything around her shone with royal splendor; on the walls, golden flowers grew up on a ground of green silk, the bed was of ivory, and the canopy of red velvet, and on a chair close by, was a pair of shoes embroidered with pearls. the girl believed that she was in a dream, but three richly clad attendants came in, and asked what orders she would like to give? "if you will go," she replied, "i will get up at once and make ready some soup for the old man, and then i will feed the pretty little hen, and the cock, and the beautiful brindled cow." she thought the old man was up already, and looked round at his bed; he, however, was not lying in it, but a stranger. and while she was looking at him, and becoming aware that he was young and handsome, he awoke, sat up in bed, and said, "i am a king’s son, and was bewitched by a wicked witch, and made to live in this forest, as an old gray-haired man; no one was allowed to be with me but my three attendants in the form of a cock, a hen, and a brindled cow. the spell was not to be broken until a girl came to us whose heart was so good that she showed herself full of love, not only towards mankind, but towards animals—and that thou hast done, and by thee at midnight we were set free, and the old hut in the forest was changed back again into my royal palace." and when they had arisen, the king’s son ordered the three attendants to set out and fetch the father and mother of the girl to the marriage feast. "but where are my two sisters?" inquired the maiden. "i have locked them in the cellar, and to-morrow they shall be led into the forest, and shall live as servants to a charcoal-burner, until they have grown kinder, and do not leave poor animals to suffer hunger."