After that they took the Princess, the horse, and the bird, and rode on with them.
When at last they reached the palace of their father there was the greatest rejoicing. Not only had the princes brought home with them the Golden Bird, but they had brought the Golden Horse, and the beautiful Princess as well, and now the kingdom was to be divided between them. As for the youngest Prince no one knew what had become of him except his brothers and the Princess.
But the Princess took no part in any of the rejoicings. She sat and grieved and grieved. The horse would not eat and the bird would not sing. The King was greatly distressed over all this. He could not guess what ailed them all.
But though the brothers had thrown the youngest brother into a well, that was not the last of him by any means. The well was a dry one, and the Prince fell softly on the moss at the bottom of it, and was not hurt at all except for a few bruises. But the sides of the well were so steep that he could not climb out of it, and there in the well he might have stayed had it not been for the faithful fox. The Prince had not been long in the well when the fox looked down over the edge of it and spoke to him.
“You little deserve that I should help you again,” said the fox. “If you had heeded my warnings all this trouble would not have come upon you. Nevertheless, I cannot leave you here to perish. Catch hold of my tail, and I will pull you out.”
The fox then let its tail hang down in the well, the Prince caught hold of it, and the fox managed to drag him out of the well and up into the sunlight.
The Prince thanked the fox with tears in his eyes, and then he journeyed on toward his father’s palace. On the way he met an old beggar-man, and exchanged clothes with him. He put on the beggar’s rags, and stained his hands and face so that he was as dark as a gypsy, and when he came at last into the palace not even his father knew him. No sooner did he enter the gate of the palace, however, than the bird began to sing, the horse began to eat, and the Princess wiped away her tears, and laughed aloud with joy.
The King was amazed. “How is this?” he asked the Princess. “How is it that you have so suddenly ceased grieving and become cheerful?”
“I know not,” answered the Princess. “Only this morning I was so sad that my heart was like lead, and now suddenly I feel quite happy, just as though my own dear promised husband had come home again.”
The Princess then told the King the whole story, how it was the youngest Prince who had won the bird and the horse, and her also for his bride; how he had bought his brothers’ lives from the landlord at the inn, and how they had afterward thrown him into a dry well and left him there.