The old King was a little unwilling, however, to give up ruling yet, and the two other brothers begged so hard to have another chance that it was finally decided that the Princes should again set out on their travels; and that, this time, the one who should bring home the finest piece of linen, long enough to make the king a robe, and delicate enough to pass through the eye of a needle, should have the Kingdom as his reward. A second time the three Princes started out, but now the youngest Prince refused to allow his retinue to accompany him. Instead, he mounted his old hobby-horse, and rode away to the White Cat’s Castle. When he reached the gate, the whole Court of Cats ran to welcome him. The White Cat received him as graciously as before, and when the Prince told her the search he had again been sent upon, she smiled, and promised that she would set her cleverest spinners at work. There, for another year, the Prince stayed, and the time went as swiftly as happiness always does, and he was amazed when the White Cat called him to her, and told him that he must go that very night if he wished to reach his father’s court in time for the test. Then she put into his hand a walnut, bidding him keep it carefully until he should reach the King’s Palace. Just as before, he arrived as his brothers, believing that he would not come in time, were opening out their webs of linen. Very fine they were. The web that the eldest brother had brought would slip with ease through a bodkin; the second son’s piece could be drawn through the eye of a large darning needle; but the whole Court, remembering what the youngest Prince had already done, waited to see what he had to show. He took the walnut from his pocket and cracked it. Inside was a hazel-nut. This he cracked, too, and, what was his surprise to find a cherry-stone! When he had broken this in halves he saw inside a grain of wheat, and in the grain of wheat a millet seed. And then the Prince lost heart, and thought that the friend he had so believed in had played him some cruel trick. But as this idea passed through his mind he felt a soft scratch on his hand to let him know that the White Cat was true. So he opened the millet seed, and drew forth the finest web of linen in the world. At the least it was four hundred ells long, and so delicate that it would slip with ease through the eye of the smallest needle that could be found. All the courtiers cried aloud together that the youngest Prince had once more won the Kingdom, but the elder brothers begged for a third chance, and as the old King was still unwilling to give up his throne, he decided that his three sons should again set out, and that the one who brought home the most beautiful maiden should marry her, and that as King and Queen they should rule together over his Kingdom.