The next day, the prince said goodbye, gathered his company and left. The king's father and the queen's mother, full of joy that their son had returned safe and sound from the war, were eager to kiss him; the prince withdrew from them, remembering what the girl had said: ‘Be careful that no one kisses you; otherwise you will forget me.’ His godfather heard that the boy he had baptised had returned from the war and went to see him; the prince was asleep; the man bent down and kissed him. When he awoke, he was the girl of the...laurel: pensive and thoughtful, he had no appetite to eat, no one to speak to, nor did he ask to hear any of the news. In her grief, the queen did not know what to do; she sent for the best doctors from the villages and nearby towns. To no purpose; by the day, the prince grew weaker.

Now let us leave the prince and tell about the laurel girl. When the prince left, she went back to the...laurel tree and said: ‘Open, my little laurel tree and let me enter; open, my little laurel tree and let me enter.’ The bay tree closed tightly and would not open its branches to receive her; it said, ‘Hugged and kissed by royal lips, how can the...bay tree let you in? The girl wept and pleaded inconsolably; the laurel would not open and its twigs moved miserably as if to say, ’This happens to every girl who spends the night outside with a boy, even if he is a prince.‘ A month passed; then two months; the prince did not come to fetch her; the laurel kept her out and the prince had forgotten her. Days and days she walked from village to village and so she came to the town where the prince was: she was told he was very ill. She cut off her hair and put on a monk's habit and a hat. She filled a bottle with water and ran crying under the palace windows: ’A doctor for sick to cure the sorrows of love; a doctor for the sick to cure the sorrows of love.‘ The prince heard this and told his mother to send for the doctor. ’But what can he do for you, my son? We have sent the best doctors and they have done you no good.‘ But this was the prince's wish and the queen ordered the doctor to be brought up. The prince asked him: ’Where are you from, monk?‘ ’From Laurel Tree River.‘ ’And what did you see or hear there?‘ ’I saw a girl crying for the trees to wither away. She was crying and what did she say? ‘O God, my good God, why have you made me sleep and taken away my love?“ ” The prince fainted and the monk sprinkled him with water from the bottle. This revived him and again he asked, ‘Where did you come from, monk?‘’From Laurel Tree River. ‘And what did you see or hear there?’ ‘I saw a girl crying for the trees to wilt.’ ‘Did she cry? and what did she say?’ ‘ ’O my God, O my good God, why have you made me sleep and taken away my love?‘ “

The girl took off her monk's dressing gown and underneath she had a woman's skirt. The prince recognised her and immediately got better. In the palace, there was joy and high celebration like for Easter. Men came from all over the kingdom to be present at the wedding of the prince and the beautiful maiden of the laurel. The wedding was kept up for forty days and forty nights and they lived well and may we live even better.