At the first streak of dawn she jumped up, saying:
"My dear one, I must leave you now!"
"But you will come again, won't you?" the Prince asked.
"Yes," she promised him. "To-night."
Suddenly the Prince remembered the golden apples. The peafowl in the tree were about to eat the last of them.
"Can't you make them leave just one apple for my father?" the Prince begged.
The maiden spoke to the birds and they flew down with two of the golden apples, one for the Tsar and one for the Prince himself.
Then the maiden lifted her arms above her head, changed into a peafowl, and with the other eight flew off into the morning sky.
The Prince carried the two apples to his father and the Tsar was so delighted that he forgot to ask the Prince the particulars of his adventure.
The next night the Prince again slept under the apple-tree and awoke just before midnight to hear the whirr of wings and see the nine peafowl come flying down from the sky. Eight of them settled on the branches of the apple-tree and the ninth, as before, alighted beside him and as she touched the earth changed into the lovely maiden of his heart. Again they passed the night together in great happiness and in the early dawn before she flew away the maiden gave him the last two of the golden apples.