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The Prince now proposed to the Princess, and she accepted him, and then she sat down to a harp to give him a little music. The Prince’s presence, in some way (perhaps because he was half-brother to a gnome), prevented the appearance of the Nimshee; and for the first time since she had been in the palace, she played without hindrance, and her music was perfectly charming; and with tears of joy in his eyes, the Prince sat wishing she would play forever. After a while, however, she got tired and stopped; and when they turned around, they saw the room was filled by the people of the palace, who had come to hear this delicious music. They were nearly all wiping their eyes with their handkerchiefs,–they were so much affected–and they could not find words good enough with which to praise the playing of the Princess. Such music they had never heard before.

Directly she declared that she was going to bed; but she desired the Grand Chamberlain to take that young Prince and give him a handsome room until morning, when she would like to see him again, and make arrangements for their wedding.

So she went away with her ladies, and the Chamberlain took the Prince out into the alabaster hall again.

“Prince indeed!” said the Chamberlain to himself; “O yes! I’ll take care of him, certainly. A good room,–O yes, indeed!” and, taking the Prince by the arm, he hurried him along, until he came to the aviary, where all sorts of wonderful and costly birds were kept, and he pushed him in there, and locked him up. The Prince was so taken by surprise at this hasty treatment, that he had no time to get angry, or he would certainly have drawn his sword, and made short work of the Grand Chamberlain. As it was, he passed the night in the aviary as well as he could; but as he had no place to lie but the floor, and as the ostriches walked about a good deal, he was very much afraid they might tread upon him, and this made him feel uneasy all night. The great owls, too, made it very unpleasant for him, by forming a circle around him, and steadfastly gazing at him with their great eyes, which looked like enormous cat-eyes, stuck into the darkness. As to the night-hawks and the other birds which fly in the dark, they swooped around and over him the whole livelong night; and when he began to get a little sleep, about daybreak, every bird in the place began to sing, or twitter, or scream, or crow, or gobble, or chatter, and the Prince might as well have tried to fly as sleep. About eight o’clock, a man came to feed the birds, and seeing the Prince in the aviary, he put him out instantly. The Prince was very angry, and tried to find out what this all meant; but the man told him he had better not let him catch him in there again, and slammed the door in his face. As the Prince wandered about the palace, he met a number of people, all of whom he asked to conduct him to the Princess. Some laughed at him, and others told him that he had better be careful how he talked about the beautiful Princess, but no one conducted him to her.

At last a man who seemed to have some authority, came up to the Prince, and, having heard his story, requested him to follow him. He led the way to a small door, and, motioning to the Prince to pass through it, shut and fastened it after him. The Prince found himself out in the street.

Enraged and hungry, he hurried back to his lodgings, where he had left Trumkard. On the way, he heard a great many people talking of the beautiful music that, it was reported, the Princess had played at the palace the evening previous. In fact, this matter seemed to be the town talk; but the Prince did not stay to listen to much of it, for he was extremely anxious to get something to eat, and to relate his troubles.