Then Hilda remembered what Tom the Cat had told her, and down she dropped on all-fours without a word.
'Now, listen to me,' said the King sternly. 'I shall harness you to that plough in the place of my horses, and you must drag it up and down over this field until the whole of it is ploughed, while I follow behind with the whip. Hitch yourself to the shaft immediately. Come!'
When Hilda heard this command it seemed to her at first as if it was impossible that she could obey it. For she was weary with her long journey along the golden road and over the mountain of amethyst, and the King's plough looked very heavy, and his whip very long; and, besides, she thought it was much beneath the dignity of a princess such as she was to be driven on all-fours through a ploughed field. But the next moment the thought came to her of her poor little brother Hector, standing in the hundred-and-first corner of Rumpty-Dudget's tower, with his face to the wall and his hands behind his back. So she said humbly:
'Oh, King of the Gnomes! I am so sorry for my brother Hector that for his sake I will do as you bid me, in the hope that afterwards you will tell me where the Golden Ivy-seed is to be found, so that Hector may be saved from Rumpty-Dudget's tower.'
The King made no reply whatever, but he harnessed Hilda to the plough, and she dragged it back and forth across the emerald field until the whole of it was ploughed, while the King followed behind with the whip. At last he unharnessed her.
'Now begone about your business!' he said roughly.
'But you have not told me where the Golden Ivy-seed is,' said Hilda, with a piteous throb in her heart.
'I have no Golden Ivy-seed!' returned the King, with his deep laugh. 'Why don't you ask yourself where it is?'
At this poor Hilda's heart felt as if it were broken, and she sank down on the ground and sobbed out:
'Oh! what shall I do to save my little brother?'
But hereupon the King of the Gnomes smiled upon her, and he said, in a gentler voice than he had yet used:
'Put your hand to your heart, Hilda, and see what you find there.'
Hilda did not understand what he meant; but she had by this time got so used to obeying him that she put her hand to her heart, and felt something fall into the palm of her hand; and when in astonishment she looked at it, behold, it was a tiny golden seed!