And the simple king went away quite happy.
As soon as she was alone, however, the princess packed all the three dresses and many of her other dresses, and all her jewellery and a large sum of money, inside the figure of the old woman, and then she got into it and walked away. No one seeing an old woman walking out of the palace thought she had anything to do with the princess, and thus she got far away without anyone thinking of stopping her.
On, on, on, she wandered till she came to the palace of a great king, and just at the time that the king’s son was coming in from hunting.
‘Have you a place in all this fine palace to take in a poor old body?’ whined the princess inside the figure of the old woman.
‘No, no! get out of the way! How dare you come in the way of the prince!’ said the servants, and drove her away.
But the prince took compassion on her, and called her to him.
‘What’s your name, good woman?’ said the prince.
‘Maria Wood is my name, your Highness,’ replied the princess.
‘And what can you do, since you ask for a place?’
‘Oh, I can do many things. First, I understand all about poultry, and then——’