In the evening, the cook prepared all the meals for the next day and left the pots and pans on the stove. Then, she locked the kitchen and went to bed. The maid opened the door and jumped down from the lantern. She found the salt and put two or three handfuls of salt into every pot. The meals would be so salty that everyone would stay hungry the following day.
The prince had invited his fiancee for dinner. So the following day, he bropught her home and they sat to eat. The lady was very hungry and tasted a spoonful of soup. But the soup was so salty that no one could eat it, even the hungriest man on earth !
The prince's fiancee was a wealthy and powerful king's daughter and was not accustomed to such treatment. Greatly offended, she left.
The same thing happened every day. The cook was so embarrassed that she started to excuse herself but the girl who helped her had an idea :
« You know what ? This thing started the day when we put up that lantern in the kitchen ! What if we put it somewhere else ? »
« Take it to my room ! » ordered the prince and left the palace, riding on his white horse.
He did not come back until late that evening. But the maid was waiting for him. She had carefully cleaned the glass lantern and its bright light filled the room as if the sun itself had been hung from the ceiling. The cook brought the dinner. The prince tasted it and said :
« It 's very tasty today ! »
He started eating and as the maid peeped out from inside tha lantern she felt hunger. She had not taken a bite for ages and could not resist the pleasant spice of the food. She opened the lantern's door and said in a low voice :
« I am very hungry too. »
The prince looked up in dismay.
« Who are you and what are you doing in that lantern ? »
The maid told him her story. She told him everything as it was from beginning to end. She explained what had happened in Ouch the ogre's underground palace and how her two sisters had been locked up in the dark.
