"Do not fear; this is the music in the Accursèd Tsar's realm."
So they went into the Tsar's palace. He, with his lacqueys, met them; music sounded; and they began dancing: and they danced until their shoes were worn thin. Then the Tsar bade wine to be served to his guests. The poor nobleman took a single goblet from under his nose, poured out the wine, and put the cup into his pocket.
At last the rout was over, and the princesses bade farewell to their cavaliers, promised to come another night, turned back home, undressed and lay down to sleep.
Then the king summoned the poor nobleman, and asked him, "Did you keep watch on my daughters?"
"Yes, I did, your Majesty."
"Where did they go?"
"Into the subterranean realm, to the Accursèd Tsar, where they danced all night long."
So the king summoned his daughters, and began cross-examining them. "Where do you go at night?"
So the princesses tried a feint: "We have not been anywhere."
"Were you not with the Accursèd Tsar? There is this poor nobleman who can turn evidence on you. He is able to convict you."
"What do you mean, bátyushka? He can convict us when all night he slept the sleep of the dead?"
Then the poor nobleman brought the golden flower out of his pocket, and the goblet, and said, "There is the testimony."
What could they do? The princesses had to acknowledge their guilt, and the king bade the entrance to the subterranean realm be slated up. And he married the poor nobleman to the youngest daughter, and they lived happily ever after.
