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After it was dark the king entered the garden, bringing a priest with him who was to talk to the spirit. All three sat down under the tree and kept watch. At midnight the girl came creeping out of the brush, stepped up to the tree, and again ate off a pear with her mouth. An angel dressed in white was standing next to her.
the priest walked up to them and said, "Have you come from God, or from the world? Are you a spirit or a human?"
She answered, "I am not a spirit, but a poor human who has been abandoned by everyone except God."
the king said, "Even if you have been abandoned by the whole world, I will not abandon you."
He took her home with him to his royal castle, and because she was so beautiful and pure he loved her with all his heart, had silver hands made for her, and took her as his wife.
After a year the king had to go out into the battlefield, and he left the young queen in the care of his mother, saying, "If she has a child, support her and take good care of her, and immediately send me the news in a letter."
She gave birth to a beautiful son. the old mother quickly wrote this in a letter, giving the joyful news to the king.
Now on the way the messenger stopped at a brook to rest. Tired from his long journey, he fell asleep. Then the devil came to him. He still wanted to harm the pious queen, and he took the letter, putting in its place one that stated that the queen had brought a changeling into the world. When the king read this letter he was frightened and saddened, but nevertheless he wrote an answer that they should take good care of the queen until his return. The messenger returned with this letter, but he rested at the same place, and again fell asleep. The devil came again and placed a different letter in his bag. This letter said that they should kill the queen with her child.
the old mother was terribly frightened when she received this letter. She could not believe it, and wrote to the king again, but she got back the same answer, because each time the devil substituted a false letter. And the last letter even stated that they should keep the queen's tongue and eyes as proof.
the old mother lamented that such innocent blood was to be shed, and in the night she had a doe killed, cut out its tongue and eyes, and had them put aside.
then she said to the queen, "I cannot have you killed as the king has ordered, but you can no longer stay here. Go out into the wide world with your child, and never come back."
the old mother tied the queen's child onto her back, and the poor woman went away with weeping eyes. She came to a GREat, wild forest where she got onto her knees and prayed to God. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to her and led her to a small house. On it was a small sign with the words, "Here anyone can live free."
A snow-white virgin came from the house and said, "Welcome, Queen," then led her inside. She untied the small boy from her back, held him to her breast so he could drink, and then laid him in a beautiful made-up bed.
then the poor woman said, "How did you know that I am a queen?"
the white virgin answered, "I am an angel, sent by God to take care of you and your child."
She stayed in this house for seven years, and was well taken care of. And through the grace of God and her own piety her chopped-off hands GREw back.
the king finally came back home from the battlefield, and the first thing he wanted to do was to see his wife and their child.
then the old mother began to weep, saying, "You wicked man, why did you write to me that I was to put two innocent souls to death," and she showed him the two letters that the evil one had counterfeited. Then she continued to speak, "I did what you ordered," and showed him as proof the eyes and the tongue.
then the king began to weep even more bitterly for his poor wife and his little son, until the old woman had mercy and said to him, "Be satisfied that she is still alive. I secretly had a doe killed and took the proofs from it. I tied your wife's child onto her back and told her to go out into the wide world, and she had to promise never to come back here, because you were so angry with her."
then the king said, "I will go as far as the sky is blue, and will neither eat nor drink until I have found my dear wife and my child again, provided that in the meantime they have not died or perished from hunger."
then the king traveled about for nearly seven years, searching in all the stone cliffs and caves, but he did not find her, and he thought that she had perished. He neither ate nor drank during the entire time, but God kept him alive. Finally he came to a GREat forest, where he found a little house with a sign containing the words, " Here anyone can live free."
the white virgin came out, took him by the hand, led him inside, and said, "Welcome, King," then asked him where he had come from.
He answered, "I have been traveling about for nearly seven years looking for my wife and her child, but I cannot find them."
the angel offered him something to eat and drink, but he did not take it, wanting only to rest a little. He lay down to sleep, covering his face with a cloth.
then the angel went into the room where the queen was sitting with her son, whom she normally called "Filled-with-Grief."
the angel said to her, "Go into the next room with your child. Your husband has come."
She went to where he was lying, and the cloth fell from his face.
then she said, "Filled-with-Grief, pick up the cloth for your father and put it over his face again."
the child picked it up and put it over his face again. The king heard this in his sleep and let the cloth fall again.
then the little boy GREw impatient and said, "Mother, dear, how can I cover my father's face? I have no father in this world. I have learned to pray, 'Our father which art in heaven,' and you have said that my father is in heaven, and that he is our dear God. How can I know such a wild man? He is not my father."
Hearing this, the king arose and asked who she was.
She said, "I am your wife, and this is your son Filled-with-Grief."
He saw her living hands and said, "My wife had silver hands."
She answered, "Our merciful God has caused my natural hands to grow back."
the angel went into the other room, brought back the silver hands, and showed them to him. Now he saw for sure that it was his dear wife and his dear child, and he kissed them, and rejoiced, and said, "A heavy stone has fallen from my heart."
then the angel of God gave them all something to eat, and then they went back home to his old mother. There was GREat joy everywhere, and the king and the queen conducted their wedding ceremony once again, and they lived happily until their blessed end.
