told them all that had happened,
and--for the third time--a hero departed, the youngest son. When he
reached the palace where the three sisters lived Ileane was standing
at the window, and when she saw him, said merrily:

"You handsome champion with the royal face, where are you hurrying,
that you urge on your steed so hotly?"

When the prince saw Ileane's face and heard Ileane's words, he
stopped, gazed at her, and answered boldly:

"I'm hurrying to the sun to steal one of its rays, to give to its
sister and take her home, where she shall become my bride. Now, little
sister, I will stop on my way to look at you, gaze at the radiance of
your face, say a word to you and steal a word in reply."

Ileane cleverly answered: "If your nature is like your words, if your
soul is like your face, proud and beautiful, and mild and gentle, I
will gladly call you into the house, seat you at a banquet, give you
food and drink and kisses."

The prince sprang from his horse as he heard these words, and answered
boldly:

"My nature will be like my speech, my heart like my face; let me in,
seat me at the banquet, you shall never repent it from dawn till
nightfall."

He had scarcely uttered the words when he leaped upon the window-sill,
jumped through the window into the room, went through the room to the
table, and took his place at the very top, where the emperor had sat
when he was a bridegroom.

"Stop, stop!" said Ileane. "First let me see whether you are what you
ought to be, and then we'll talk and begin our love-making. Can you
make roses grow on burdocks?"

"No!" said the prince.

"Then the thistle is your flower," said clever Ileane. "Can you make
the bat sing in a sweet voice?"

"No!" said the prince.

"Then night is your day," said clever Ileane. "Can you make apples
grow on wolf's-bane?"

"That I can!" said the prince.

"Then that shall be your fruit!" replied the beautiful and cunning
Ileane. "Sit down at the table."

The prince took his place. Ah! but Ileane was indeed cunning Ileane.
Ere he had fairly seated himself, he dropped, chair and all, into the
deep cellar where the emperor's treasures were kept.

Ileane now began to scream: "Help!" and when all the servants came
rushing in to see what had happened, she told them she had heard a
noise and was afraid that some one had got into the cellar to rob the
emperor of his treasures. The servants did not waste many words, but
instantly opened the iron do