hild.'

The Queen gave money to the old woman, and bought the apple from her.
Then she peeled it, ate it, and threw the rind out of the window, and
it so happened that a mare that was running loose in the court below
ate up the rind. After a time the Queen had a little boy, and the mare
also had a male foal. The boy and the foal grew up together and loved
each other like brothers. In course of time the King died, and so did
the Queen, and their son, who was now nineteen years old, was left
alone. One day, when he and his horse were talking together, the Horse
said to him, 'Listen to me, for I love you and wish for your good and
that of the country. If you go on every year sending twelve youths and
twelve maidens to the King of the Beasts, your country will very soon
be ruined. Mount upon my back: I will take you to a woman who can
direct you how to kill the Seven-headed Serpent.'

Then the youth mounted his horse, who carried him far away to a
mountain which was hollow, for in its side was a great underground
cavern. In the cavern sat an old woman spinning. This was the cloister
of the nuns, and the old woman was the Abbess. They all spent their
time in spinning, and that is why the convent has this name. All round
the walls of the cavern there were beds cut out of the solid rock,
upon which the nuns slept, and in the middle a light was burning. It
was the duty of the nuns to watch the light in turns, that it might
never go out, and if anyone of them let it go out the others put her
to death.

As soon as the King's son saw the old Abbess spinning he threw himself
at her feet and entreated her to tell him how he could kill the
Seven-headed Serpent.

[Footnote 10: Convent Gnothi.]

She made the youth rise, embraced him, and said, 'Know, my son, that
it is I who sent the nun to your mother and caused you to be born, and
with you the horse, with whose help you will be able to free the world
from the monster. I will tell you what you have to do. Load your horse
with cotton, and go by a secret passage which I will show you, which
is hidden from the wild beasts, to the Serpent's palace. You will find
the King asleep upon his bed, which is all hung round with bells, and
over his bed you will see a sword hanging. With this sword only it is
possible to kill the Serpent, because even if its blade breaks a new
one will grow again for every head the monster has. Thus you will be
able to cut off all his seven heads. And this yo