‘Oh, it was only a dream!’ laughed the prince.
‘But my dreams are always true,’ said his mother. ‘Tell me how it was.’
The prince wondered for some time whether he should tell her or not, but at last he decided to let her into the secret.
‘One should tell one’s mother everything,’ he thought. And he told her.
‘See, mother, here are a sword and a mail shirt which I found in the first house we entered in the forest, and as long as I carry them nothing can hurt me. That is what saved me from the wild beasts.’
‘How can I be thankful enough!’ exclaimed the queen. And directly the prince’s back was turned, she hurried to tell the robber.
The robber, as soon as he heard the news, made a sleeping-draught, and bade the queen give it to her son before he went to bed that night.
Accordingly, as soon as the prince began to get sleepy, the queen handed him the cup containing the draught.
‘Drink this, to please me,’ she said. ‘It will do you good after all you’ve gone through, and make you sleep well.’