him sleep in the pigsty last night, and although he is a bit of a mess the Innkeeper's Daughter takes a great liking to him. She offers him food and drink, and even a tumble in the hay, but he is repulsed by her, and compares her unfavorably to the Goose-Girl he met the day before. He overcomes disappointment and dismay and renews his commitment to a year of wandering and learning, which he hopes will make him a worthy ruler. While the crowd gathers and the young people dance to music, the King's Son speaks with the Innkeeper and gets a job tending his swine. More people assemble, including the Woodcutter, the Broom-maker, and his thirteen daughters. The youngest daughter tries to sell the King's Son a broom; he does not have any money, but he plays Ring-Around-the-Rosy with her. She runs away from him once the town council are all assembled. The Woodcutter, considerably embellishing the story of his trip to the Witch, announces that their king will enter the town at noon, drawn in a golden chariot. The King's Son challenges his superficial description of a king: "Could you even recognize a true king, if he was not nicely dressed? Do you just want a puppet, a figurehead?" Questioning the town's wisdom fails to make him popular. The Innkeeper's Daughter accuses him of not paying for the food she gave him, everyone starts calling him a thief, and a great melée threatens. But just at that moment the bells toll midday. The great gates of the town swing open. Enter the Goose-Girl, accompanied by the Fiddler (and her geese). She wears the golden crown, and greets the King's Son with delight. He falls to her knees and calls her his queen. The townspeople mock and object to this in a noisy ensemble, the Fiddler struggling to be heard as he insists these are their destined rulers. The people grab sticks and stones and drive the young beggar and the Goose-Girl out of town. When all is quiet again, an Old Councilor asks the Broom-maker's little Daughter why she is crying: "That was the King and his wife!" she sings. Act 3 Winter has come. We are back at the location from act 1, only now the Witch's hut is dilapidated, its windows broken as if by thrown stones. The Witch was burned at the stake because the