Though the castle of this cruel king lay but a short distance from the entrance of the Westland Kingdom, the road that stretched between was filled with such sadness and sorrow that it was many a day before the princess stood at its gates. Little children struggled with heavy burdens, and when she had helped these, other little children with heavy burdens passed sadly down the same road. Women toiled unceasingly in the forest or drove the plow from dawn until dark; King Ironheart's soldiers saw to it that none idled. Yvonne had no coins to buy bread, and again she was forced to beg from door to door, but so willingly did she help those who labored that the sad-faced women were glad to share with her their scant store. A Westland woman, noting the slippers of bark, asked her who she might be and from whence she came; to which the princess made the following reply:
"In my country I am called Yvonne, the Beggar Princess. My father cast me off portionless because I would not wed to please him; and I seek the tyrant Ironheart, to beg him quit the Westland Kingdom and to free from his dungeon Prince Godfrey, whom I love with all my heart."
When the Westland women heard her reply, they marveled at her courage, but shook their heads and advised her to give up her quest.
"You seek to move with pity one whose heart is cold as his name would say!" they cried. "King Ironheart laughs at mothers' tears and takes pleasure in the wails of hungry children; return to your home, Oh Yvonne, or this wicked king will enslave you with this sad land."
"That I will not do," replied the princess firmly. "With courage and a good heart, I have come hither to beg mercy of King Ironheart. If I fail, I fail, and here in bondage I shall remain with you who mourn Prince Godfrey, for he is lord of my heart."
The princess delayed her errand no longer, but rose with the dawn the following day and was waiting early at the castle gates. On being questioned by the soldiers, she said she had come to seek King Ironheart. They asked who she was, and she answered them truthfully that she was Yvonne, the Beggar Princess.
"A Beggar Princess!" exclaimed the soldiers in derision. "Who ever before heard of a princess without gold?"
"This gold I have about me," replied the princess, and she unbound her golden hair. In the morning sun it shone brilliantly and dazzled the eyes of King Ironheart, who leaned from his balcony to learn the cause of the sudden bright light. He saw the princess standing at the gate and commanded that she be brought before him.
As she entered the throne room, though she had not feared her father's wrath and was not afraid to walk alone at midnight in the forest, the princess was seized with a sudden fear that left her almost speechless. It was not that King Ironheart was hideous as monsters are often hideous, nor was he misshapen; but beneath his smile there lurked such cruelty and malice that she feared her cause was lost before she had begun to plead it. The thought of Godfrey lying in his dungeon stirred her, and she asked leave of his majesty to sing. King Ironheart was pleased with her request and graciously ordered his chief harpist to play the airs for Yvonne. At the end of the entertainment, the king's servants brought handsome robes and gifts of gold for the singer whom the king mistook for some peasant maiden.
The princess refused his gifts with dignity.