ened," said the eldest.
"Hast thou forgotten how many Kings' sons have already come here in
vain?  I had hardly any need to give the soldier a sleeping-draught, in any case
the clown would not have awakened."  When they were all ready they looked
carefully at the soldier, but he had closed his eyes and did not move or stir,
so they felt themselves quite secure.  The eldest then went to her bed and
tapped it; it immediately sank into the earth, and one after the other
they descended through the opening, the eldest going first.  The
soldier, who had watched everything, tarried no longer, put on his
little cloak, and went down last with the youngest.  Half-way down
the steps, he just trod a little on her dress; she was terrified at
that, and cried out, "What is that?  who is pulling my dress?"  "Don't
be so silly!" said the eldest, "you have caught it on a nail."  Then they went all
the way down, and when they were at the bottom,
they were standing in a wonderfully pretty avenue of trees, all the
leaves of which were of silver, and shone and glistened.  The soldier
thought, "I must carry a token away with me," and broke off a twig
from one of them, on which the tree cracked with a loud report.  The
youngest cried out again.  "Something is wrong, did you hear the
crack?"  But the eldest said, "It is a gun fired for joy, because we
have got rid of our prince so quickly."  After that they came into an
avenue where all the leaves were of gold, and lastly into a third
where they were of bright diamonds; he broke off a twig from each,
which made such a crack each time that the youngest started back in
terror, but the eldest still maintained that they were salutes.  They went on
and came to a great lake whereon stood twelve little
boats, and in every boat sat a handsome prince, all of whom were
waiting for the twelve, and each took one of them with him, but the
soldier seated himself by the youngest.  Then her prince said, "I can't tell
why the boat is so much heavier to-day; I shall have to row
with all my strength, if I am to get it across."  "What should cause
that," said the youngest, "but the warm weather?  I feel very warm
too."  On the opposite side of the lake stood a splendid, brightly-lit
castle, from whence resounded the joyous music of trumpets and
kettle-drums.  They rowed over there, entered, and each prince danced with
the girl he loved, but the soldier danced with them unseen, and when
one of them had a cup of wine in her hand he drank it up, so that the
cup was empty when she carried it to her mouth; the youngest was
alarmed at this, but the eldest always made her be silent.  They danced
there till three o'clock in the morning when all the shoes were
danced into holes, and they were forced to leave off; the princes
rowed them back again over the lake, and this time the soldier seated
himself by the eldest.  On the shore they took leave of their princes, and
promised to return the following night.  When they reached the stairs the
soldier ran on in front and lay down in his bed, and when the twelve had
come up slowly and wearily, he was already snoring so loudly that they could
all hear him, and they said, "So far as he is concerned, we are
safe."  They took off their beautiful d

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