“Tell me, old woman,” he cried, “was it you who put this ring in the cake?”
“It was,” answered Maria.
“And do you know to whom it belongs?”
“I do.”
“Then tell me instantly where she is,” cried the prince, filled with hope.
“I am she,” answered Maria.
When the prince heard this he thought the old woman must be mad, but Maria opened the door and stepped out from the figure in all her brightness and beauty. Then the heart of the prince seemed like to break with joy. He fell upon one knee and took Maria by the hand. “At last you have come,” cried he. “And now you shall never leave me again, for you and you only out of all the world shall be my bride.”
To this Maria gladly assented, for she had loved him from the first moment when he had found her in the wood.
She told her story, and after the king and queen found who she was they were very willing to have her for their daughter-in-law. She and the prince were married with great magnificence, and lived happily ever after, and the wooden figure they kept to show to their children and their children’s children.
