Quite unexpectedly they came at length to a little log hut. Page 81.
“Come in, daughter,” said the aged man, motioning to the girl. “Have you brought the Prince’s son?”
“That I have, Father,” she replied, and her voice was as lovely as her beautiful face. The Prince’s son entered the little hut, wondering greatly, and the door was closed behind him.
Without a word of explanation, the aged couple made haste to set before him a simple, hearty supper, the girl having disappeared meanwhile into an inner room. [[82]]When he had finished, as if in answer to his unspoken thought, the old man said:
“You are doubtless wondering, my son, about the lovely damsel who abides here with us, and whom you have followed this day to our humble door. But in truth, sir, it is little enough we can tell you ourselves. Whence she comes, we know not, though we have cherished and reared her as our own child. Several years ago we found her on our doorstep, a little laughing maid as fair as ever the sun looked on, and clothed in the softest, richest raiment. Right joyfully we took her in, and she dwelt with us happily day by day, yet never did she say a word by which we might know whose child she was. A king’s daughter she must be, or the child of some good spirit. Of late she has spoken much of a change to come in her life, of a Prince’s son, and of many other things which we have not understood, but our hearts have been sad within us, fearing lest the girl prophesied her marriage and separation [[83]]from us who love her more than all else in the whole world.”
At this point the Prince’s son eagerly interrupted the old man, saying, “I pray you, Father, be no longer sad, but hear the great desire of my heart. I am indeed the son of a Prince, and the maiden is in my eyes the loveliest and most beautiful creature in the universe. Having once seen her, I have no further wish in life than to marry her and live peacefully with her here in this forest, in a house that I shall build for her with my own hands, near by this hut. Surely the fates have decreed that this shall be, for have I not traveled far this day in search of whatsoever Dame Fortune might have in store for me?”
“So be it,” said the other; “needs must you be the destined bridegroom, the son of a Prince, for had it been otherwise our daughter never would have led you through the dark forest to our lonely home. Let the blessing of an old man rest upon you.” [[84]]
And so it came about that the Prince’s son married the beautiful maiden of the woods and lived with her in peace and happiness in a little log house hard by her foster-father’s hut. Days passed by, and weeks, and ever the two grew more loving and contented, and it seemed as if nothing could mar the even joy of their lives. But, alas, one day a great misfortune befell them!
It was warm and sultry, and the two had strolled hand in hand down to the bank of a rushing stream that ran through the forest. Now the water looked so very cool and refreshing that the maiden must needs sit on the mossy bank and dabble her feet and her hands in it. While she was doing so, a ring slipped from her finger and before she could rescue it, was borne down the current and out of sight. The poor girl cried out in dismay, then fell to weeping so bitterly that her husband was astonished.