What is the meaning of すると in this sentence?

Question

おじいさん は びっくりして その たけ を そっと きって みました。

すると どう でしょう。 <-- this one

たけ の なか に 小さな 女の子 が いました。

I know that Suruto is "hereupon/thereupon/at this point". But "at this point, how is it?" doesn't make a good translation...

Can you help ? Thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

The すると here is a 接続詞(conjunction), meaning "and", "then", "and just then", etc.
See this J-J dictionary definition #1 or this J-E dictionary.

どうでしょう literally means "How is ~~?", but here it's an exclamation rather than interrogative, and means "to my surprise," "Good God!", "behold!" etc. It's similar to (but probably sounds more literary than) 「なんということでしょう！」, 「なんてことだ(ろう)！」 etc.

This dictionary carries the sentence 「するとどうでしょう！」 as a translation for "And behold!"