The King gave the old woman some golden ducats and begged her to prepare another dish for the Prince on the morrow.
So the next day the girl again sent a tiny ringlet of her hair on the side of the plate and again the Prince after scorning all the other food offered him took the old woman's dish and ate it clean.
On the third day the Prince engaged the old woman in conversation.
"Where do you live, granny?"
"In a little tumble-down house beside the nettles," she told him.
"Do you live alone?"
"Just now," the old woman said, "I have a dear girl living with me. I found her one morning lying in the nettles where some ruffians had left her for dead. She's a good girl and she scrubs and bakes and cooks for me and lets me rest my poor old bones."
Now the Prince knew what he wanted to know.
"Granny," he said, "to-morrow's Sunday. Now I want you to stay home in the afternoon because I'm coming to see you."
In great excitement the old woman hurried home and told the girl that the Prince was coming to see them on Sunday afternoon.