some time after this, the king went away to the wars: and while he was still away, the queen became the mother of twins. one was a lovely baby-boy, and the other was a lindworm, or serpent. she was terribly frightened when she saw the lindworm, but he wriggled away out of the room, and nobody seemed to have seen him but herself: so that she thought it must have been a dream. the baby prince was so beautiful and so healthy, the queen was full of joy: and likewise, as you may suppose, was the king when he came home and found his son and heir. not a word was said by anyone about the lindworm: only the queen thought about it now and then.