“Nay, but if I’m to have him, have him I shall, after all”; that was what Annie thought.
Well, it was the same story over again with the Prince; only this time, when his bride got up in the morning, the stone said she’d had six bairns.
So the Prince wouldn’t have her either, but sent her about her business; but still he thought he’d try once more if he couldn’t find one who was pure and spotless; and he sought far and wide in many lands, till at last he found one he thought he might trust. But when he went to see her, little Annie the goose-girl had put herself in his way again.
“Sitting all alone there, you little Annie, the goose-girl”, said the Prince.
“Yes, here I sit, and put stitch to stitch, and patch on patch; for I’m waiting to-day for the king’s son from England”, said Annie.
“Him you mustn’t look to have”, said the Prince.
“Nay, but if I’m to have him, have him I shall, after all”, said little Annie.
So when the Princess came, little Annie the goose-girl told her the same as she had told the other two, if she’d had any sweetheart before, or if there was anything else she didn’t wish the Prince to know, she mustn’t tread on the stone that the Prince had put at his bedside; for, said she:
“It tells him everything.”
The Princess got very red and downcast when she heard that, for she was just as naughty as the others, and asked Annie if she would go in her stead and lie down with the Prince that night; and when he was sound asleep, she would come and take her place, and then he would have the right bride by his side when it was light next morning.