On the following night, at the selfsame hour, the selfsame flashing, crashing din was heard around the imperial fortress, and a voice without cried loudly, "Open the door, you princes!"
Paralyzed with terror, they threw open the door and a fearful Form rushed in, crying in a loud voice, "Give me here the maiden, your second sister! I have come to marry her!"
Said the eldest brother, "I will not give you my sister!"
Said the second, "I will not let my sister—"
But the youngest broke in with, "Then I will! Will you never remember what our father commanded?"
He took his sister by the hand and led her to the wooer. "Take her; she will be happy with you and always good."
At this the powerful apparition vanished, and the maiden with him.
As soon as morning dawned the brothers sought around the castle for traces of the direction which the apparition had taken; but they found nothing under the blessed sun, nor was there the slightest clue from which they could make any sort of guess any more than if no one had been there!
On the third night, at the same hour, the whole castle was again shaken to the foundation by a horrible uproar and earthquake, and a voice called out, "Open the door, ye princes!"
The Emperor's sons sprang nimbly to their feet and drew the bolts, upon which a monstrous Form entered, exclaiming "We are come to demand the hand of your youngest sister!"