The Prince suddenly remembered the gold-spinners, and said to himself:  “If I ride thither, who knows but that they could explain this to me?” He at once rode to the hut, and found the two maidens at the fountain.  He told them what had befallen their sister the year before, and how he had twice heard a strange song, but yet could see no singer.  They said that the yellow water-lily could be none other than their sister, who was not dead, but transformed by the magic ball.  Before he went to bed, the eldest made a cake of magic herbs, which she gave him to eat.  In the night he dreamed that he was living in the forest and could understand all that the birds said to each other.  Next morning he told this to the maidens, and they said that the charmed cake had caused it, and advised him to listen well to the birds, and see what they could tell him, and when he had recovered his bride they begged him to return and deliver them from their wretched bondage.

Having promised this, he joyfully returned home, and as he was riding through the forest he could perfectly understand all that the birds said.  He heard a thrush say to a magpie:  “How stupid men are! they cannot understand the simplest thing.  It is now quite a year since the maiden was transformed into a water-lily, and, though she sings so sadly that anyone going over the bridge must hear her, yet no one comes to her aid.  Her former bridegroom rode over it a few days ago and heard her singing, but was no wiser than the rest.”

“And he is to blame for all her misfortunes,” added the magpie.  “If he heeds only the words of men she will remain a flower for ever.  She were soon delivered were the matter only laid before the old wizard of Finland.”

After hearing this, the Prince wondered how he could get a message conveyed to Finland.  He heard one swallow say to another:  “Come, let us fly to Finland; we can build better nests there.”

“Stop, kind friends!” cried the Prince.  “Will you do something for me?” The birds consented, and he said:  “Take a thousand greetings from me to the wizard of Finland, and ask him how I may restore a maiden transformed into a flower to her own form.”

The swallows flew away, and the Prince rode on to the bridge.  There he waited, hoping to hear the song.  But he heard nothing but the rushing of the water and the moaning of the wind, and, disappointed, rode home.

Shortly after, he was sitting in the garden, thinking that the swallows must have forgotten his message, when he saw an eagle flying above him.  The bird gradually descended until it perched on a tree close to the Prince and said:  “The wizard of Finland greets thee and bids me say that thou mayest free the maiden thus:  Go to the river and smear thyself all over with mud; then say:  ’From a man into a crab,’ and thou wilt become a crab.  Plunge boldly into the water, swim as close as thou canst to the water-lily’s roots, and loosen them from the mud and reeds.  This done, fasten thy claws into the roots and rise with them to the surface.  Let the water flow all over the flower, and drift with the current until thou comest to a mountain ash tree on the left bank.  There is near it a large stone.  Stop there and say:  ’From a crab into a man, from a water-lily into a maiden,’ and ye both will be restored to your own forms.”