But the lad would not listen to him. Hunt for the Princess he must and would.
“Very well”, said the King at last. “Since your heart is set on it, you must go your own way, but remember you will be allowed only twenty-four hours in which to find her.”
Very well! That suited the lad well enough.
Now there were many pretty girls in the palace, and music and dancing, and the lad joined in and danced and laughed with the best of them. He amused himself all day, and at last only one hour was left of all the twenty-four in which he was to search for the Princess.
“There!” said the King. “Now you have danced your life away, and it is time for the headsman.”
“Not so,” said the lad, “for I have still one hour left, and now I will go and look for the Princess.”
With that he set out, and the King and the court were obliged to follow. The lad went upstairs and downstairs, through cellars and along galleries, along the way the King had led him the night before, and all the while the King kept saying, “This is not the way to go. You are all wrong, and you will never find her this way.”
When they came out on the pier, the lad began pulling and pushing at posts and pivots, and the King did not dare to stop him.
Presently the little house came floating up to the pier, and there were only two minutes left of all the twenty-four hours.
“And now unlock the door,” cried the lad, “for within here sits the Princess.”