The young Prince was charmed with her youth and beauty. A great banquet was prepared, to which all the courtiers and good friends were bidden. The bridegroom sat at the head of the table, with the Princess on one side and the Waiting-Woman at the other; but she was dazzled, and did not recognise the Princess in her brilliant apparel.
When they had eaten and drunk and were all very merry, the old King put a riddle to the Waiting-woman. ‘What does a person deserve who deceives his master?’ telling the whole story, and ending by asking, ‘What doom does he deserve?’
The false bride answered, ‘No better than this. He must be put stark naked into a barrel stuck with nails, and be dragged along by two white horses from street to street till he is dead.’
‘That is your own doom,’ said the King, ‘and the judgment shall be carried out.’
When the sentence was fulfilled, the young Prince married his true bride, and they ruled their kingdom together in peace and happiness.
