now, down in a little cottage near a wood, there lived the king's shepherd, an old man with his only daughter. and the king came one day and said to him, "will you give me your daughter to marry my son the lindworm? and i will make you rich for the rest of your life." "no, sire," said the shepherd, "that i cannot do. she is my only child, and i want her to take care of me when i am old. besides, if the lindworm would not spare two beautiful princesses, he won't spare her either. he will just gobble her up: and she is much too good for such a fate."