The old woman said, “Anē! Son, even a bird which passes along in the air above cannot go to the place where the Glass Princess is.”
Then the Prince asked, “Mother, why do they say that the Princess is the Glass Princess?”
The old woman said, “O son, they call her the Glass Princess. The bed on which the Princess sleeps is a bed of glass throughout. Glass is fixed all round the bed in such a manner that even the wind cannot get to her.[1] Because of that, they say that she is the Glass Princess.”
The Prince asked, “Mother, at what time does the Princess eat rice at night?”
The old woman said, “O son, at night water for bathing, and cooked rice, having gone there for the Princess, they are placed in the upper story where the Princess sleeps alone. When the Princess has been sleeping at night, at about eight she awakes, and after bathing in the water eats rice. Before that she does not get up.”
Then the Prince, after listening to all these words, asked for a mat, and went off to sleep at the travellers’ shed which was in front of the old woman’s house. Having gone there, while he was lying down he thought, “Anē! O Gods, in any case you must grant me an opportunity of going to the place where that Princess is.” Then while he was thinking, “Anē! Will even those rats that I took up that day out of the river and placed on the bank, become of assistance to me in this matter?” he fell asleep.
After that, those rats, collecting thousands of rats besides, came there before the Prince awoke, and having come near the Prince while he was sleeping, waited until he awoke. When the Prince awoke and looked about, he saw that rats, thousands in number, had come and were there.
The rats asked the Prince: “O Lord, what assistance does Your Majesty want us to give?”
The Prince said, “I want you to excavate a tunnel, of a size so that a man can go along it erect, to the upper story of the house in which the Glass Princess is staying, and to hand it over without completing it, leaving a very little unfinished. It was on account of this that I thought of you.” Then the rats went, and having dug it out that night, finished it and handed it over, and went away.
The Prince having been in the travellers’ shed until it became light, took the mat and went to the widow-mother. He gave her one masurama and said, “Here, mother, this is given for the articles I obtained. Bring things for you and me, and in order that I may go and get something to-day also, quickly cook and give me a little rice.” The old woman speedily cooked and gave it. The Prince having eaten it, during the whole day walked round about the city.