townspeople did not like her prophecy about the ruler. They maimed and imprisoned the Fiddler, who is now living in the hut and tending the birds. He comes outside and feeds a flock of doves, then asks whether, in their flight, they have seen anything of the Goose-Girl and the King's Son. "I am growing old with waiting and sadness," he sings. The Woodcutter and Broom-maker enter, accompanied by a crowd of children. They have come to fetch the Fiddler back to town. He swore he would never return there, but the Broom-maker says they need him: everything has gone to pieces in town; the children do not trust the adults, and there is conspiracy and mutiny everywhere. The Innkeeper's little Daughter shoves them away and addresses the Fiddler directly: the children, she says, know he was right and their parents were wrong; the King's Son and the Goose-Girl belong on the throne. She asks them to lead a search for the royal couple, and he does so, singing a sweet lullaby which is drowned out by the sound of the snow and wind. The Fiddler and the children disappear into the snowy mountains while the Woodcutter and Broom-maker try to warm themselves inside the hut. Enter the King's Son, carrying the exhausted Goose-Girl. Worn out with wandering, they knock at the hut and beg for food and shelter; the Woodcutter slams the window on them. They sing of the cave where they were living, up in the mountains, and the various steps along the journey that has led them to this place. The Goose-Girl tries to cheer the King's Son up with merry song and dance, but she collapses. She seems to be near death. He again pounds on the door and asks the Woodcutter and Broom-maker for food, offering them even his crown. They found a loaf of bread in the hut, and the King's Son splits it with the Goose-Girl; but it is the magic bread of death baked in the first scene. The King's Son and the Goose-Girl both die, locked in each other's arms, singing of their love. The Fiddler and the children return too late; they lay the youthful lovers on a bier and carry them away, to bury them on a high crag, where the Fiddler promises to sing the song of the Kingly Children. Recordings 1952: Käthe Möller-Siepermann (Goose-Girl), Ilsa Ihme-Säbisch (Witch),