The girl did as the bird advised, and heard the sweetest melody in the branch of the tree. Then she filled a vessel with water and prepared to return, but very sorrowfully, for she had found both her brothers turned into stone.
She told her trouble to the bird, who said: “Sprinkle some of the water on the stones.”
This she did, and, to her great surprise, both the lads came to life.
They were delighted to see her, and to know that she had succeeded in finding the gifts they had failed to get; and the three returned home and lived very happily together for some time.
One day the two brothers thought they would like to go out hunting again.
Now they did not know that an order had been passed that nobody was to hunt in that forest except the Prince, and, while they were there, they came face to face with the Prince himself. This alarmed them, and they tried to hide themselves; but he called them, and enquired why they were hunting there against orders.
Then they explained that they were in ignorance of his orders when they came, and begged forgiveness.
The Prince, pleased at their appearance, enquired who they were, and they said: “The adopted sons of your gardener who died some time ago. Our own parents died when we were young.”
Then the Prince invited them to his Palace, but they said they could go nowhere without first telling their sister.
“Well, ask your sister,” said he, “and come to-morrow.”