Princess Hilda had never walked on all-fours since the black spot came on her forehead; so she went onward just as she was, and all the Gnomes who met her said:
“See how upright she walks! She will never come to anything.”
But at last she arrived at the gate of the field, and walked in; and there was the King on all-fours in the midst of it. As soon as he saw Princess Hilda, he said:
“Get down on all-fours this instant! How dare you come into my kingdom walking upright?”
“Oh, your Majesty,” said Hilda, though she was a good deal frightened at the way the King spoke, “there is no time to be lost; where is the Golden Ivy-seed?”
“The Golden Ivy-seed is not given to people with stiff necks,” replied the King. “Get down on all-fours at once, or else go about your business!”
Then Princess Hilda remembered what the cat had told her, and got down on all-fours without a word.
“Now listen to me,” said the King. “I shall harness you to that plow in the place of my horse, and you must draw it up and down over this field until the whole is plowed, while I follow behind with the whip. Come! There is no time to lose.”
When Princess Hilda heard this, she felt tempted for a moment to refuse; but the next moment she remembered her poor little brother Henry standing in the thousand and first corner of Rumpty-Dudget’s tower, with his face to the wall and his hands behind his back; so she said:
“O King of the Gnomes! I am so sorry for my little brother that I will do as you bid me, and all I ask in return is that you will give me the Golden Ivy-seed, so that Henry may be saved from Rumpty-Dudget’s tower.”