As before, the man stopped to breakfast, dinner and supper; but after supper the girl went to her room, saying to him:—“Wait till I call you.”
Now the tower had been built in a hurry and the floors were of plank only, not of brick or stone. Of this the maiden took advantage. She raised three or four planks just inside the door and then called:—“My light’s out, come and light it.”
The man ran to do so, but fell down the hole to the bottom of the tower; and as it was a high one he was killed by the fall.
The next morning the three sisters looked at their rings, but only that of the youngest was bright, the others were dull and clouded.
“What shall we do?” said the girls.
“I’ll tell you,” said the youngest; “we’ll sit all in a row, and pass my ring from one to another so cleverly that nobody shall notice.”
Presently their father came back. They did as their sister advised, and he was quite satisfied. Then they all went home to live in their old house and had a merry time of it.
One day, as the eldest was looking out of the window she saw the king’s baker.
“Ah, what a handsome man,” said she. “If he were to marry me I would make, in one day, enough bread to last the court for a year.”