But the younger sister, having plucked and cleaned the birds they had caught, told her elder sister she must cook them at once, as she was about to waken Hlini; and, going up to the couch with the gold-embroidered quilt, on which Hlini was lying asleep, she called forth the swans, and wakened him.
By this time the birds were cooked; and when she asked him if he would take any food, instead of refusing, Hlini said he felt hungry, and would join them at their supper.
The younger giantess was greatly pleased, and after helping him to fruit and wine, asked him whether he would not now make her his wife.
But Hlini said he must first know more about her and her sister before he could decide.
“What, for instance, is the meaning of those runes carved on the bedhead?” he asked.
“Oh,” replied the giantess graciously, “the words are—
“ ‘Fly, fly, oh bedstead mine,
And carry me whither I will.’
You have only to sit down on the bed and repeat those words, and immediately you are carried to whatever place you wish to go.”
The prince was delighted when he heard this, as he hoped it would enable him and Signy to escape.