e, who knew how bad she
was, seated her son on the throne instead of herself, and she
never rested till she had formed a plan to get him out of the way.
Fortunately, however, the young king was wise and prudent, and knew her
too well to trust her.

One day, when his mourning was over, he gave orders that everything
should be made ready for a grand hunt. The queen pretended to be greatly
delighted that he was going to amuse himself once more, and declared
that she would accompany him. 'No, mother, I cannot let you come,' he
answered; 'the ground is rough, and you are not strong.' But he might as
well have spoken to the winds: when the horn was sounded at daybreak the
queen was there with the rest.

All that day they rode, for game was plentiful, but towards evening the
mother and son found themselves alone in a part of the country that was
strange to them. They wandered on for some time, without knowing where
they were going, till they met with a man whom they begged to give them
shelter. 'Come with me,' said the man gladly, for he was an ogre, and
fed on human flesh; and the king and his mother went with him, and he
led them to his house. When they got there they found to what a dreadful
place they had come, and, falling on their knees, they offered him great
sums of money, if he would only spare their lives. The ogre's heart was
moved at the sight of the queen's beauty, and he promised that he would
do her no harm; but he stabbed the boy at once, and binding his body on
a horse, turned him loose in the forest.

The ogre had happened to choose a horse which he had bought only the day
before, and he did not know it was a magician, or he would not have been
so foolish as to fix upon it on this occasion. The horse no sooner had
been driven off with the prince's body on its back than it galloped
straight to the home of the fairies, and knocked at the door with its
hoof. The fairies heard the knock, but were afraid to open till they
had peeped from an upper window to see that it was no giant or ogre who
could do them harm. 'Oh, look, sister!' cried the first to reach the
window, 'it is a horse that has knocked, and on its back there is bound
a dead boy, the most beautiful boy in all the world!' Then the fairies
ran to open the door, and let in the horse and unbound the ropes which
fastened the young king on its back. And they gathered round to admire
his beauty, and whispered one to the other: 'We will make him alive
agai