I will obey

The princess opened the letter, read it, and threw it aside. "Wicked old woman," she cried sharply, "you are all pretending to be a fool, praising the wicked man, and encouraging me to write to him. After all this, I was allowed to exchange letters with him. Why are you doing this? Tell me the truth! Every time you see me, you say, 'I will teach him and put an end to his wishful thinking. 'But you are doing it to urge me to answer his letter, so that you can play a trick between me and him and discredit me." After she reviled, even ordered about the slave: "damn thing, don't hurry to drag this old thing out and kill."

The servants at once did the princess's bidding, and beat the old lady with all her hands and legs. Until her head was broken, she was dying, and she passed out. Then Haya Toofs ordered the old woman to be thrown outside the harem door, and a servant girl to stand by the old woman until she woke up, telling her not to enter the palace door again. If she disobeys an order, she will be killed.

The old lady was thrown out of the harem, and when she woke up, the maid beside her told her exactly what the princess had said. The old lady, knowing this, replied, "I will obey."

The servant girl saw that the old woman was very poor, so she put her in a large basket, hired someone to take her home, and sent for a doctor to see her.

Some time later, the old lady got better and rode to the prince's shop.

She had not seen the crown prince for a long time because she had been at home recovering from the beating. The Crown Prince was very worried and was hoping to get some information from her. So when he saw the old lady, the Crown prince quickly got up and greeted her with warm greetings. The prince, seeing the old lady's weakness, could not wait to ask her questions. Then the old woman told how the princess had beaten her. Seeing the old lady take the fall for him, the prince felt very guilty and said:

"Old lady, your misfortune pains me too. I should like to know why the princess hates the man so much."

"Let me tell you something, child. Princess Haya Tooves had a garden of unparalleled beauty. One night the princess dreamed that she was going into the garden, and saw a hunter hiding himself in a net to catch some birds. The net was full of tempting grains. At this time, a flock of birds came to peck, one of the male birds fell into the net, unable to escape. Every one of the flock fled, and even his female companion was scattered. After a while, the female returns and pecks hard with her beak at the mesh that traps the male until it breaks through. She rescues the male, and they both fly away. The hunter was asleep at the time, so he did not find a male bird he had caught. When he woke up, he found that the net had been pecked out, so he had to repair it and set up a new place to catch the finches. After a while, a flock of birds came to peck at it, including the rescued male and his female companion. Unfortunately, the female bird got caught in the net. His bad luck scared away his male companion and the other birds, leaving him alone in the net, struggling for help. His male companion never appeared. When the hunter awoke from his sleep, he ran into a female bird caught in his net and killed her.