She tied the corn in a kerchief and carried it next her heart lest some of the precious grains should slip away. Each night she counted them, and each night she rejoiced to find she had still one hundred, the exact number King Ironheart had given her. From her work at the farm, the princess knew well the labor of the fields and dairy, so she toiled the winter through with the other women. One evening, as she sat in the moonlight counting her precious grains, she heard voices near by, but a hedge hid the speakers.
"Ah," said the first voice sadly, "that one hundred provinces, the fairest this side of Paradise, should be so crushed beneath this cruel King Ironheart! I would that he were driven away, and that the good Prince Godfrey would return to his own once again."
"Have patience," answered a second voice which was exceedingly sweet and gentle. "Know that for the space of the winter months the Princess Yvonne hath carried next her heart one hundred grains of corn from which the cruel Ironheart hath commanded her to reap a harvest for the nation. Now such is the power of a good heart that when she hath planted these grains, there will spring from them such a harvest as never before was gathered in any country. Then, according to his promise, King Ironheart will free Prince Godfrey and quit the Westland Kingdom forever."
The voices ceased suddenly as they had begun, but on looking over the hedge, the princess could see no one. She treasured the words she had heard, and with a song in her heart, waited until the winter should be gone. When spring was come at last, she traveled with it through the Westland Kingdom and planted a single grain in the center of each province, until her kerchief was empty. It seemed that the land itself was weary of the cruel Ironheart and longed once more for peace and happiness, for such a supply of corn was never known in the Westland Kingdom. In autumn, when it was gathered into the granaries, there was more than they could hold, and the king's servants built storehouses to contain the surplus. Then the princess went to King Ironheart to tell him that her task was done. He had heard of the wonder from his ministers and had waiting for her another task. The first he now declared had been but child's play, and he vowed to free Prince Godfrey when she should accomplish the second.
"But, my lord, how can I believe you?" cried the princess in dismay. "Even should I accomplish the second task, when it is done will you not set for me another and another, and so on until the end of time?"
"Never fear, Yvonne, Beggar Princess," replied King Ironheart with his cruel smile. "This time I will keep my word right gladly. Though I set Godfrey free a thousand times, he will never marry you, for should you accomplish this second task, you will be the ugliest woman in all the world. Think twice before you set about it," he warned. "If you fail, you will be enslaved for the rest of your life; and if you succeed, you will be hideous.
"Now you had best marry me and give up this silly thing you call true love. It hath brought you naught but tears and sorrow in the past and will bring you no better in the future." He smiled and looked graciously at Yvonne, but she was unmoved.
"Because I loved Prince Godfrey, I defied my father and became the Beggar Princess, Yvonne," she answered scornfully, "and because I loved Prince Godfrey, I came to his land to beg his freedom of you who hold him in cruel captivity. How then should I wed you? Tell me what it is that you would have me do; I care not whether I return from my task the ugliest woman in all the world!"
"Then listen well to what I say," replied the king, "for I shall not tell you twice. My kingdom, which lies just beyond the borders of the Westland Kingdom, is naught but a great desert plain. There are on this plain neither rivers nor springs, but instead the wind blows the sand in clouds above it all day long, and nothing will grow in such a place.
"Seek this plain, and when you have found it, cause springs and rivers to water it, the better to nourish a forest which you must plant there to please me. In the heart of this forest build for me a splendid palace, the outer walls of whitest marble and the inner walls of purest gold. Thousands of red roses must climb to the towers of the palace. When you have done thus much, trouble not yourself to furnish it for me, but return to me, and I promise that I shall betake myself and my court to my own kingdom and quit this land forever and ever. I am weary of a people who smile never but weep from sun to sun for their absent lord."