en he went back to his mother, who
was waiting impatiently for him.

'What have you been doing all this time?' she asked angrily. 'I
thought you had been killed by robbers!'

'Oh, just looking round,' he answered; 'but though I searched
everywhere I could find nothing to eat.'

'I am very much afraid that it is a robbers' den,' said the queen. 'We
had better go on, hungry though we are.'

'No, it isn't; but still, we had better not stay here,' replied the
prince, 'especially as there is nothing to eat. Perhaps we shall find
another house.'

They went on for some time, until, sure enough, they came to another
house, which also had a light in the window.

'We'll go in here,' said the prince.

'No, no; I am afraid!' cried the queen. 'We shall be attacked and
killed! It is a robbers' den: I am sure it is!'

'Yes, it looks like it; but we can't help that,' said her son. 'We
have had nothing to eat for hours, and I'm nearly as tired as you.'

The poor queen was, indeed, quite worn out; she could hardly stand for
fatigue, and in spite of her terror was half anxious to be persuaded.

'And there's going to be a storm,' added the prince; who feared
nothing now that he had the sword.

So they went into the house, where they found nobody. In the first
room stood a table laid for a meal, with all sorts of good things to
eat and drink, though some of the dishes were empty.

'Well, this looks nice,' said the prince, sitting down and helping
himself to some delicious strawberries piled on a golden dish, and
some iced lemonade. Never had anything tasted so nice; but, all the
same, it _was_ a robbers' den they had come to, and the robbers, who
had only just dined, had gone out into the forest to see whom they
could rob.

When the queen and the prince could eat no more they remembered that
they were very tired, and the prince looked about till he discovered a
comfortable bed, with silken sheets, standing in the next room.

'You get into bed, mother,' he said, 'and I'll lie down by the side.
Don't be alarmed; you can sleep quite safely till the morning.' And he
lay down with his sword in his hand, and kept watch until the day
began to break; then the queen woke up and said she was quite rested
and ready to start again.

'First I'll go out into the forest and see if I can find our road,'
said the prince. 'And while I'm gone you light the fire and make some
coffee. We must eat a good breakfast before we start.'

[Illus