Everybody had a fine time at the ball that night, and after a while the king rose as before and said:
“He who takes the fiddle
And plays a jolly air,
Shall have half my kingdom
And the princess fair.”
Amaryllis could stand it no longer. He forgot that he was at a great ball. He forgot the lords and ladies. He forgot the fairy’s words, and reached out his hand for the fiddle.
He began to play, but the tune he played was not a merry one. He looked down and saw that he had on his old, shabby clothes.
All the lords and ladies cried, “Put him out! Put him out! He is a street musician.”
Amaryllis ran out of the ball-room and went sadly home.
The two brothers did not know what had happened. They had eaten so much that they had fallen asleep at the ball.