Anna’s stepmother and the woodsman betray the girl, pretending not to know what she has done, saying, among other things, “Devil child! How could you do such a thing to the prince! Go to your room without dinner!” and begging the prince’s pardon. The stepmother orders Anna to clean the slipper. When it’s clean the stepmother gives it to her second daughter.

“Run! Go try it on, now! And it better fit, because if it doesn’t the prince will have all our heads!”

Again she shouts up the service stairs, “Aaaannaaa! Quick, take your father’s axe upstairs, hurry, hurry!”

The girl, who isn’t remotely pretty, tries on the slipper, but her heel doesn’t fit. She doesn’t say a word to her mother: she chops off her heel in one swing and puts the slipper on. Swallowing the pain, she goes downstairs and smiles at the prince, as if she’s been dancing with him all night.

The prince has a pure heart and believes her.

It’s important to explain that his heart is pure. It is part of the reason why his father wants to marry him off. The prince is quick to trust, but not stupid, and just as quick to distrust, which doesn’t make for a good ruler. Power isn’t built on innocence or candidness, and his father is right, this prince wouldn’t amount to much of a king. His search for a good wife has as much to do with perpetuating his dynasty as with building alliances.

The prince, excited and giddy with love, invites the woodsman’s wife’s second daughter into his princely carriage. When they are halfway to the palace, birds of all sizes from the peach tree surround them, singing:

Of all the good things you had to choose

You chose the worst of all.

You’ve got yourself a trimmed hoof.

She’s not the one, she’s not the one.

The idea of looking at his beloved slipper and finding it soaked in blood again turns the prince’s stomach. Which is why we must digress once more. We can’t just pass by a prince’s upset stomach. Much has been written about empty bellies—not that it’s made much difference. But can the same be said for the upset stomachs of pure-hearted princes? Let’s make a few distinctions: it’s one thing to overeat, and another to have had enough of human blood, and another altogether not to be able to look at something because you’re too sensitive. The last was the case with the prince.