When she had done so she remembered that the woman had told her to peel them carefully before she ate them . It was now too late for the one of them , but she peeled the other and then ate it too . In due time it happened as the woman had said ; but the first that the queen gave birth to was a hideous lindorm , or serpent . No one saw this but her waiting-woman , who threw it out of the window into the forest beside the castle . The next that came into the world was the most beautiful little prince , and he was shown to the king and queen , who knew nothing about his brother the lindorm . There was now joy in all the palace and over the whole country on account of the beautiful prince ; but no one knew that the queen 's first-born was a lindorm , and lay in the wild forest . Time passed with the king , the queen , and the young prince in all happiness and prosperity , until he was twenty years of his age . Then his parents said to him that he should journey to another kingdom and seek for himself a bride , for they were beginning to grow old , and would fain see their son married . before they were laid in their grave . The prince obeyed , had his horses harnessed to his gilded chariot , and set out to woo his bride . But when he came to the first cross-ways there lay a huge and terrible lindorm right across the road , so that his horses had to come to a standstill . ` Where are you driving to ? ' asked the lindorm with a hideous voice . ` That does not concern you , ' said the prince . ' I am the prince , and can drive where I please . ' ` Turn back , ' said the lindorm . ' I know your errand , but you shall get no bride until I have got a mate and slept by her side . ' The prince turned home again , and told the king and the queen what he had met at the cross-roads ; but they thought that he should try again on the following day , and see whether he could not get past it , so that he might seek a bride in another kingdom . The prince did so , but got no further than the first cross-roads ; there lay the lindorm again , who stopped him in the same way as before . The same thing happened on the third day when the prince tried to get past : the lindorm said , with a threatening voice , that before the prince could get a bride he himself must find a mate .
When the king and queen heard this XXXXX the third time they could think of no better plan than to invite the lindorm to the palace , and they should find him a mate .
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