und the world for a whole year, and his horse
had died of exhaustion, while he himself had suffered much from want
and misery, but still he had come on no trace of her he was in search
of. At last one day he came to a hut, in front of which sat a very old
man. The Prince asked him, 'Do you not know where the Dragon lives who
keeps the daughter of the Flower Queen prisoner?'

'No, I do not,' answered the old man. 'But if you go straight along
this road for a year, you will reach a hut where my father lives, and
possibly he may be able to tell you.'

The Prince thanked him for his information, and continued his journey
for a whole year along the same road, and at the end of it came to the
little hut, where he found a very old man. He asked him the same
question, and the old man answered, 'No, I do not know where the
Dragon lives. But go straight along this road for another year, and
you will come to a hut in which my father lives. I know he can tell
you.'

And so the Prince wandered on for another year, always on the same
road, and at last reached the hut where he found the third old man. He
put the same question to him as he had put to his son and grandson;
but this time the old man answered, 'The Dragon lives up there on the
mountain, and he has just begun his year of sleep. For one whole year
he is always awake, and the next he sleeps. But if you wish to see the
Flower Queen's daughter go up the second mountain: the Dragon's old
mother lives there, and she has a ball every night, to which the
Flower Queen's daughter goes regularly.'

So the Prince went up the second mountain, where he found a castle all
made of gold with diamond windows. He opened the big gate leading into
the courtyard, and was just going to walk in, when seven dragons
rushed on him and asked him what he wanted?

The Prince replied, 'I have heard so much of the beauty and kindness
of the Dragon's Mother, and would like to enter her service.'

This flattering speech pleased the dragons, and the eldest of them
said, 'Well, you may come with me, and I will take you to the Mother
Dragon.'

They entered the castle and walked through twelve splendid halls, all
made of gold and diamonds. In the twelfth room they found the Mother
Dragon seated on a diamond throne. She was the ugliest woman under the
sun, and, added to it all, she had three heads. Her appearance was a
great shock to the Prince, and so was her voice, which was like the
croaking of many