In the meantime the Giant was waiting for them to go to sleep. At last he could wait no longer, so he called out: “Are you asleep yet?” And the apple at the head of the bed answered: “No, we are not asleep.” He called out the same thing three more times, and the three other pieces of apple answered him the same way. When the piece outside the door replied, the Giant knew he had been fooled, and that the couple had fled. He started after them in hot pursuit.
Just at dawn the Giant’s daughter said: “My father is close behind us, because his breath is burning my neck. Put thy hand in the filly’s ear and throw behind thee whatever thou findest.”
The Prince did so, and at once a thick forest of blackthorn sprang up behind them.
At noon the Giant’s daughter again said: “I feel my father’s breath on my neck.” So the Prince reached into the filly’s ear and took a piece of stone, which he threw behind him. At once a huge rock was between them and the Giant.
By evening the Giant was close upon them for the third time. Out of the filly’s ear the King’s son took a bladder of water, and threw it behind him. A fresh-water lake then stretched twenty miles behind them. By this time the Giant was coming so fast that he could not stop, but plunged headlong into the lake and was drowned.
When they approached the Prince’s home, the maiden said she would wait for him by the well. “Go thou and greet thy father, then come back for me. But let neither man nor creature kiss thee, or thou wilt forget me.”
The youth was welcomed by all his family, but he kissed none of them. As misfortune would have it, however, an old grayhound jumped upon him and licked his face, and then he did not remember the Giant’s daughter.
She waited a long time for his return. After a while she wandered to an old Shoemaker’s cottage and asked him to take her to the palace, that she might see the newly returned Prince. The Shoemaker, greatly awed by her unusual beauty, said: “Come with me. I am well acquainted with the servants at the castle, and will arrange for you to see the company.”
The pretty woman attracted much attention at the feast. The gentlefolk took her to the banquet hall and gave her a glass of cordial. Just as she was going to drink, a flame appeared in the glass, and a golden pigeon and a silver pigeon sprang out of the flame. At the same time, three grains of barley fell upon the floor.
The two pigeons flew down and ate the barley grains. As they ate, the golden pigeon said: “Do you remember how I cleaned the byre?” Three more grains of barley fell to the ground, and the golden pigeon again spoke: “Do you remember how I thatched the byre?” Still three more grains fell to the ground, and the golden pigeon once more spoke: “Do you remember how I robbed the magpie’s nest? I lost my little finger, and I lack it still.”