"that is not so difficult," said the old woman, "you must not drink the wine which will be brought to you at night, and must pretend to be sound asleep." with that she gave him a little cloak, and said, "if you put on that, you will be invisible, and then you can steal after the twelve." when the soldier had received this good advice, he went into the thing in earnest, took heart, went to the king, and announced himself as a suitor. he was as well received as the others, and royal garments were put upon him. he was conducted that evening at bed-time into the ante-chamber, and as he was about to go to bed, the eldest came and brought him a cup of wine, but he had tied a sponge under his chin, and let the wine run down into it, without drinking a drop. then he lay down and when he had lain a while, he began to snore, as if in the deepest sleep. the twelve princesses heard that, and laughed, and the eldest said, "he, too, might as well have saved his life." with that they got up, opened wardrobes, presses, cupboards, and brought out pretty dresses; dressed themselves before the mirrors, sprang about, and rejoiced at the prospect of the dance. only the youngest said, "i know not how it is; you are very happy, but i feel very strange; some misfortune is certainly about to befall us." "thou art a goose, who art always frightened," said the eldest. "hast thou forgotten how many kings’ sons have already come here in vain? i had hardly any need to give the soldier a sleeping-draught, in any case the clown would not have awakened." when they were all ready they looked carefully at the soldier, but he had closed his eyes and did not move or stir, so they felt themselves quite secure. the eldest then went to her bed and tapped it; it immediately sank into the earth, and one after the other they descended through the opening, the eldest going first. the soldier, who had watched everything, tarried no longer, put on his little cloak, and went down last with the youngest. half-way down the steps, he just trod a little on her dress; she was terrified at that, and cried out, "what is that? who is pulling my dress?" "don’t be so silly!" said the eldest, "you have caught it on a nail." then they went all the way down, and when they were at the bottom, they were standing in a wonderfully pretty avenue of trees, all the leaves of which were of silver, and shone and glistened. the soldier thought, "i must carry a token away with me," and broke off a twig from one of them, on which the tree cracked with a loud report. the youngest cried out again.