The third day, when her father and mother and sisters were gone, she went again into the garden, and said—
“Shake, shake, hazel-tree, gold and silver over me!”
Then her kind friend the bird brought a dress still finer than the former one, and slippers which were all of gold; and the king’s son danced with her alone, and when any one else asked her to dance, he said, “This lady is my partner.” Now when night came she wanted to go home; and the king’s son would go with her, but she managed to slip away from him, though in such a hurry that she dropped her left golden slipper upon the stairs.
So the prince took the shoe, and went the next day to the king, his father, and said, “I will take for my wife the lady that this golden shoe fits.”
Then both the sisters were overjoyed to hear this; for they had beautiful feet, and had no doubt that they could wear the golden slipper. The eldest went first into the room where the slipper was, and wanted to try it on, and the mother stood by. But her big toe could not go into it, and the shoe was altogether much too small for her. Then the mother said, “Never mind, cut it off. When you are queen you will not care about toes; you will not want to go on foot.” So the silly girl cut her big toe off, and squeezed the shoe on, and went to the king’s son. Then he took her for his bride, and rode away with her.