The horse now turned to the Prince. “You may get down there is nothing more to fear because the magician is dead.” The horse nodded at a brook nearby. “You will find a willow wand there. Strike it on the earth and you will see a door at your feet.”
The Prince did as he was told and he saw a large door leading to a vaulted stone hall.
“Lead me into the hall,” the horse told the Prince. “I will stay there. You must go through the fields and you will reach a garden. There you will find a king's palace. If you go into the king's service you will be able to help me. But please do not forget me.”
The Prince also promised the horse that he would not let anyone see his golden hair. The prince bound a cloth around his hair like a turban so that no one could see it.
He walked ahead and saw the gardener of the palace and wanted to enter into service with the gardener.
The Prince was naturally dressed like a poor man and the gardener did not think that he was a king's son. So the gardener accepted the king's son as his apprentice.
The Prince was given the job to weed the ground, sweep the dead leaves and for that the king’s son was paid a florin a day and a horse was given to him to take the leaves away. The Prince was also given food and drinks.
The Prince agreed to the conditions and he set about to work.
Every day half of the food that he got was all he ate. He took the remaining to the horse. The horse was very happy and thanked the Prince for his friendship.
The horse then one day told the Prince something very important. “Tomorrow a lot of princes and kings will come to this king's palace. The king has three princesses. Each of the three princesses will throw a diamond apple in her hand into the air. Any person at whose feet the apple falls will be the bridegroom of that princess. You must be close by in the garden at your work. If you do that the apple of the youngest princess would fall near your feet. Pick it up and put it in your pocket.”
The next day exactly as the horse had said many wooers of the three princesses came from across many kingdoms to the castle.
The princesses threw the apple in the air and the diamond apple of the youngest princess fell near the garden where the Prince was working.
He immediately picked up the apple and put it in his pocket.
However as the prince stooped to pick up the apple the scarf around his head slipped a little and the third princess saw some of his golden hair.
From that moment the princess fell in love with the man in the turban.
The king however was very sad that his youngest daughter had to be married to a commoner. However the king had no choice and he celebrated the three marriages with great pomp and show.
The youngest princess and the Prince returned to their broken down hut near the gardener's house.
However the king was very ashamed of his third son-in-law and did not want him to meet the others.
Adapted from Greek fairy tales
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