The day after this was done she went as usual to sit in the Rondel, and while she busied herself with her embroidery she talked over this matter of the suitors with her beloved ash-trees.
“How shall I know whom to choose?” said the princess. “I have no experience at all. If I must have a husband I should like to be sure that he is the right one.”
“Do not be afraid, dear princess,” replied the ash-trees. “You know that whosoever stands beneath our boughs is bound to speak the truth. You need ask but one question of each of the suitors. According to his answer you will be able to judge of his suitability as a husband.”
“What shall I ask him?” said the princess.
“Ask him,” replied the ash-trees, “what he most desires in a wife. That will be quite sufficient.”
Presently she heard a whispering among the leaves over her head.
“There’s one coming,” they said. “We can see him riding along the high road.”
“Oh, what is he like?” said the princess.
“He is a very fine-looking gentleman indeed,” said the ash-trees. “He rides on a great black prancing horse, and a company of twenty knights rides behind him. He wears shining armour. The harness of his horse is studded with jewels and the hilt of his sword blazes in the sunshine.”
“It sounds very exciting,” said the princess, and she put down her stitching and smoothed her golden hair and spread out the folds of her flower-embroidered gown, for naturally she wanted to look her best.
Before long the prince arrived at the castle gates, and a messenger came out into the park to tell the princess that he had come from a neighbouring kingdom to seek her hand.
“I will see him here,” said the princess.
So the prince came riding through the park with his knights all jingling behind him, each of them bearing a golden casket containing a present for the princess.
When the prince reached the foot of the little hill on which the Rondel stood and saw the princess under the trees, he dismounted from his horse and came on foot to where she sat.
The knights waited at the bottom of the hill.
The princess received him graciously, and he stood before her in the shadow of the ash-trees and asked if she would marry him.
“I have a great kingdom,” said he, “great riches and great power, and my enemies all fear me.”