"Now I see you are a stranger," she said
"Yes, I come from a long way off," the Queen said. "At least I suppose it is a great way off, for it has taken me a long time to get here."
At that moment the ploughman came in, with the heavy step of a tired man.
"Mother, mother!" he said gaily; "I'm hungry."
"Son, son," she answered, "I am glad to hear it. There will be plenty."
And so the supper was made ready, and heartily glad the Queen was, for she was as hungry as the ploughman.
And they had the whitest of floury potatoes, in the whitest of white wooden bowls, and the sweetest of new milk, and the clearest of honey overrunning the comb, and junket laid on rushes, and plums, and apples, and apricots. And be certain that the Queen enjoyed it.
And, when it was finished, they drew their chairs round the fire, and the ploughman said, addressing the Queen—
"Now, friend, since you have travelled far, tell us something of what may have befallen you on the way, for we are such stay-at-home folk here, that we know little of the world around. But perhaps you are tired and would rather go to bed."
But the Queen said, "Oh no, I am very well rested now, and I will gladly tell you my story—only first tell me where I am."