But the young king cared nothing whatever for what his mother thought about the matter, for the more he looked at the princess, the more beautiful she appeared in his eyes. So the end of the matter was that he married her, even though she had not a word to say for herself. Well, time went on and on, till one day the storks that lived on the castle roof brought a baby boy to the poor dumb princess, whereat everybody was as glad as glad could be. But their gladness was soon changed to sadness, for that night, when every one in the king’s house was fast and sound asleep, Mother Hildegarde came softly into the princess’s room. She gave her back her speech for the time being, and then she said, “I will still have pity upon you. If you will only tell me the truth you shall have your speech again, and all will go well with you. But if you tell me a falsehood once more, still greater troubles will come upon you. Now tell me, did you go into the little room?” “No,” said the princess, for still she could not bring herself to confess to Mother Hildegarde. “Then how came your hair to be like that?” “I do not know,” said the princess. So Mother Hildegarde took away her speech once more. After that she smeared the mouth of the princess with blood, and then, wrapping the baby in her mantle, she carried it away with her, leaving the mother weeping alone. You can guess what a hubbub there was the next morning in the castle, when they came and found that the baby was gone, and that the princess’s mouth was smeared with blood. “See,” said the king’s mother, “what did I tell you from the very first. Do you not see that you have brought a wicked witch into the house, and that she has killed her own child?” But the king would listen to no such words as these, for it seemed to him that the princess was too beautiful and too good to do such a wicked thing. After a time there came another baby to the princess, and once more Mother Hildegarde came to her and said, “Did you go into the little room?” “No,” said the princess. “Then how came your hair to be like that?” “I do not know,” said the princess. So Mother Hildegarde took this baby away as she had done the other, and left the princess with her lips smeared with blood. And now every one of the king’s household began to mutter and to whisper to his neighbor, and the king had nothing to say, but only left the room silently, for his heart was like heavy lead within his breast. Still he would not hear of harm coming to the princess, no matter what had happened.