The next morning the soldier told nothing of his wonderful adventure, for he thought he would like again to follow the princesses in their wanderings. And this he did a second and a third time, and each night the twelve sisters danced until their slippers were riddled with holes. The third night the soldier carried off a goblet, as a sign that he had visited the castle across the lake.
When next day he was brought before the King, to tell where the twelve dancing princesses held their night-frolic, the soldier took with him the twig with its silver leaves, the twig with its leaves of gold, and the twig whose leaves were of diamonds. He took, too, the goblet.
“If you would live, young man,” said the King, “answer me this: How comes it that my daughters’ slippers, morning after morning are danced into holes? Tell me, where have the princesses spent the three last nights?”
“With twelve princes in an underground castle,” was the unexpected reply.
And when the soldier told his story, and held up the three twigs and the goblet to prove the truth of what he said, the King sent for his daughters.
In the twelve sisters tripped, with no pity in their hearts for “the old snorer,” as they called the soldier; but when their eyes fell upon the twigs and the goblet they all turned white as lilies, for they knew that their secret night-frolics were now at an end for ever.
“Tell your tale,” said the King to the soldier. But before he could speak, the princesses wrung their hands, crying, “Alack! alack!” and their father knew that at last he had discovered their secret.
Then turning to the soldier, the King said: “You have indeed won your prize. Which of my daughters do you choose as your wife?”
“I am no longer young,” replied the soldier. “Let me marry the eldest princess.”
So that very day the wedding bells pealed loud and far, and a few years later the old soldier and his bride were proclaimed King and Queen.