Many people accompanied Doublewit to his last farewell, for he had made more friends than enemies.  They saw him mount his pile of firewood, wave good-bye, and then disappear into the little hut.  The firewood was lit, and soon the pyre and hut were ablaze.  In a short while there was nothing left but charcoal and ashes and the bare rock wall.  Friends and relatives went home and mourned Doublewit.

However, Doublewit had escaped through an opening he had left in the back wall of the hut.  After creeping into the narrow cave, he closed the entrance by pulling the big stone over it, thus preventing the fire and smoke from following him into his tunnel.  Behind the entrance, just wide enough for him to squeeze through, there was a wide cave.  Beyond this, a long tunnel led to the far side of the rock where a secret exit lay hidden by bushes.

Six months later, there was another celebration at court.  Suddenly, an old man appeared; he had a gray beard full of ashes and sooty, worn clothes.  No one could see his face, for it was completely covered by matted strands of hair.  The man saluted the king, greeting him in a hollow voice.  The king, perturbed by this unsightly figure, asked him who he was and what he wanted.

“Alas,” said the stranger, “Your Majesty has forgotten your most faithful and devoted servant.  I am Doublewit, and I have just returned from the otherworld whence you sent me half a year ago.”

“So I did, Doublewit,” said the king. “But I did not recognize you looking the way you do. Tell me, did you see my royal parents? Are they happy and peaceful?”

“Indeed, Your Majesty,” answered Doublewit.  “I did see His Majesty, your royal father, and your revered mother.  They are living peacefully and in perfect happiness, lacking nothing except for one thing.”

“And what is it that they lack?  Is it something that I can send them?” inquired the king.

“Indeed, Sire, that is possible,” answered Doublewit as he pulled at his long beard.  “As Your Majesty can see, during my sojourn in the otherworld, my hair and beard grew because there was no one there to cut them.  All the men who live there have long beards and hair growing down so long it covers their eyes.  It is for this reason that His Majesty, your royal father, ordered me to convey this message to Your Majesty: that an able hairdresser be sent to shave their beards and cut their hair.”