When he awakened the moon was shining, the pool sparkled like a silver
plaque crusted with diamonds, and two nightingales were singing in the
branches over his head. And the next moment he found out that he
understood their language just as plainly as if they had been human
beings instead of birds. The water with which he had quenched his thirst
was enchanted, and had given him this new power.

"Poor boy!" said one nightingale, "he looks tired; I wonder where he
came from."

"Why, my dear," said the other, "is it possible you don't know that he is
Prince Fairyfoot?"

"What!" said the first nightingale--"the King of Stumpinghame's son, who
was born with small feet?"

"Yes," said the second. "And the poor child has lived in the forest,
keeping the swineherd's pigs ever since. And he is a very nice boy,
too--never throws stones at birds or robs nests."

"What a pity he doesn't know about the pool where the red berries grow!"
said the first nightingale.




PART III


"What pool--and what red berries?" asked the second nightingale.