After this time the two sisters lived there together very happily. Every morning Balna drove the flocks and herds out to pasture, but the elder girl stayed at home to set the house in order and cook the meals. Balna cautioned her never to open the door to anyone while she was away. “There may be robbers in this wood who would kill you for the sake of the treasures that are here,” she said, “or they might carry you away with them because of your beauty.”
The elder girl promised her she would not open the door to anyone, and so Balna felt quite safe in leaving her every day.
Now a young prince lived not far from this jungle, and very often he came to hunt in it. One day the hunt was fast and furious, and he and his attendants rode farther than they had ever gone before. Suddenly they saw, gleaming through the trees, a beautiful palace.
“It is very strange,” said the prince, “that anyone should have built a palace here in the depths of the jungle. Let us knock and see who lives in it.”
His attendants had never seen the palace before, either, and they warned him that it might belong to a rakshas, and it might be dangerous to knock; but the prince would not heed them and began to knock loudly upon the door.
The girl within was frightened at the noise and the voices outside (for this was the very palace where the sisters were living). She kept very quiet and hoped whoever was outside would go away.
“Open the door, you who are inside,” cried the prince. “If you do not I will open it myself with my sword.”
The girl was more frightened than ever, but as she found he was determined to enter, she hastily slipped some rags over her magnificent clothes and blacked her face and hands so that she might look ugly. Then she went to open the door, but she was in such a hurry that she forgot to blacken one of her ears.
When she appeared the prince was surprised at her looks; it seemed strange that anyone so black and ragged should be living in such a magnificent palace. Then he saw that one of her ears was white, and he was more surprised than ever.
However he only said to her, “I have been hunting and I am very hot and thirsty. Will you not give me some water?”