But the soldier insisted upon going to see his old parents. Before departing, his wife gave him a small bag full of seeds. "Wherever you go throw these seeds on both sides of the road; wherever they fall trees will grow up; upon the trees rare fruits will grow, beautiful birds will sing."
The soldier mounted his good old horse and departed. Wherever he went, he threw the magic seeds; and after him forests rose as if creeping out of the earth. On the third evening of his journey, in the middle of an open field, he saw a group of men sitting upon the grass, playing cards. Near them a kettle was hanging, and though there was no fire under it, the soup inside was boiling.
"What a wonder!" thought the soldier. "No fire is to be seen yet the kettle is boiling hot. Let me look at it." He turned his horse, approached the men and said, "Good evening, honest people. You have a wonderful thing: a kettle boiling without fire, but I have something more wonderful."
He took out one seed and threw it upon the ground. In a minute a tree grew up, rare fruit upon its branches, wonderful birds singing beautiful songs. Now the soldier did not know that these men were the magicians that had enchanted the princess, his wife. They recognized him.
"Oh," said they, "that is the same fellow, who saved the princess. Let us make him sleep for half a year."
They treated him with an enchanted drink. The soldier immediately fell fast asleep, and the men with the kettle disappeared.
Soon after this the princess took a walk in her garden. There she saw that all the tree-tops were dry and dead. "That foretells me nothing good"; thought she. "Something wrong must have happened to my husband. He has been away for three months already. It is time for him to come back, and as yet I have heard nothing of him." She decided then to go to look for him.
She went by the same road over which the soldier had gone. On both sides forests were growing, and birds were singing. But after a while she reached the place where there were no more trees. The road was clearly marked in the open field. She thought, "Where could my husband have gone? I hope he has not been swallowed up by the earth." She looked around and saw aside from the road a wonderful tree, and under it her husband. She ran to him, shook him, called him, but could not wake him up. She pinched him, stuck pins into his body but he felt no pain. He was lying as one dead and did not move.
