“What defence have you to make, sir?” roared the Princess’s sister’s husband.
“None,” said the gardener’s son. “I love the Princess and shall do so as long as I live.”
“That won’t be for long,” said the Princess’s sister.
Then the Princess threw her arms round the neck of the gardener’s son and vowed that she loved him too, and that nothing would induce her to marry such a hateful person as the Prince.
All the banquet broke up in confusion, and everyone rushed out of the hall except the cat, who waited to conceal a carving-knife upon his person with which he intended to murder the Prince. But the Prince, who was a coward, had gone off to his room and locked himself in when he saw the way in which some of the guests looked at him.
Next day the gardener’s son was put in prison; the Princess cried and Sootface tore his hair, but he had to go. What was his astonishment, on arriving at the prison door, to find that a cherry-tree was growing beside it. He was taken up a winding stair and locked into a cell with a tiny window protected by iron bars. When he looked out he could see into the boughs of the tree, and, above them, a new moon beginning to shine in the sky as it drew towards evening.
When it was night the cat, who had hidden the witch’s book of magic as soon as the gardener’s son had gone to prison, took it under his arm, climbed into the boughs of the cherry-tree, and began to try and console his friend, who was looking out of the barred window. He opened it, reciting his song:
“Flames and salt
And queens and kings,
And monkeys’ tails