"Oh, quite easy work—just goose-herding."
The Queen said, "Oh, I dare say I could do that."
And the old woman answered, "Oh, very well; come along in, then."
And the Queen followed her into a dirty little room, with only a table and a long bench in it.
But there was a fine wood fire crackling on the hearth, and before it a goose was slowly turning on the spit, so that it did not look quite as dismal as otherwise it might have done.
The Queen sat herself down at the table, and the old woman and the cat were engaged in sitting on the hearth watching the fire.
They did not seem at all talkative, and so the Queen held her peace.
At last the old woman gave a grunt, for the goose was done, and so she got up and found a plate and knife and fork, and put them before the Queen, with the goose on a dish and a large hunk of bread.
"There," she said, "that's all I can give you."
And so, although the food was by no meant as dainty as what she would have had at home in the palace, the Queen was so remarkably hungry that she made a much larger meal than she ever remembered to have made.