o the palace, where she was to be married to the Prince as
privately and with as little ceremony as possible, for the family was
ashamed of the match.

As soon as the wedding was over, the Prince said to his wife, "Gentle
wife, tell me how much longer you intend to wear that old skin? You
had better take it off; do be so kind." The Princess wondered how he
knew of her disguise, or whether it was only a guess of his; and she
thought, "If I take this ugly skin off, my husband will think me
pretty, and shut me up in the palace and never let me go away, so that
I shall not be able to find my sister again. No, I had better not take
it off." So she answered, "I don't know what you mean. I am as all
these years have made me; nobody can change his skin." Then the Prince
pretended to be very angry, and said, "Take off that hideous disguise
this instant, or I'll kill you." But she only bowed her head, saying,
"Kill me then, but nobody can change his skin." And all this she
mumbled as if she were a very old woman indeed, and had lost all her
teeth and could not speak plain. At this the Prince laughed very much
to himself, and thought, "I'll wait and see how long this freak
lasts." But the Princess continued to keep on the old woman's skin;
only every morning, at about three o'clock, before it was light, she
would get up and wash it and put it on again. Then, some time
afterward, the Prince, having found this out, got up softly one
morning early, and followed her to the next room, where she had washed
the skin and placed it on the floor to dry, and stealing it, he ran
away with it and threw it on the fire. So the Princess, having no old
woman's skin to put on, was obliged to appear in her own likeness. As
she walked forth, very sad at missing her disguise, her husband ran to
meet her, smiling and saying, "How do you do, my dear? Where is your
skin now? Can't you take it off, dear?" Soon the whole palace had
heard the joyful news of the beautiful young wife that the Prince had
won; and all the people, when they saw her, cried, "Why, she is
exactly like the beautiful Princess our young Rajah married, the
jungle lady." The old Rajah and Ranee were prouder than all of their
daughter-in-law, and took her to introduce her to their eldest son's
wife Then no sooner did the Princess enter her sister-in-law's room
then she saw that in her she had found her lost sister, and they ran
into each other's arms. Great then, was the joy of all, but