Finally, the king said to her one day, 'This can't be borne any
longer. I go about childless, and it's your fault. I am going
on a journey and shall be away for a year. If you have a child
when I come back again, all will be well, and I shall love you
beyond all measure, and never more say an angry word to you. But
if the nest is just as empty when I come home, then I must part
with you.'

After the king had set out on his journey, the queen went about
in her loneliness, and sorrowed and vexed herself more than ever.
At last her maid said to her one day, 'I think that some help
could be found, if your majesty would seek it.' Then she told
about a wise old woman in that country, who had helped many in
troubles of the same kind, and could no doubt help the queen as
well, if she would send for her. The queen did so, and the wise
woman came, and to her she confided her sorrow, that she, was
childless, and the king and his kingdom had no heir.

The wise woman knew help for this. 'Out in the king's garden,'
said she, 'under the great oak that stands on the left hand, just
as one goes out from the castle, is a little bush, rather brown
than green, with hairy leaves and long spikes. On that bush
there are just at this moment three buds. If your majesty goes
out there alone, fasting, before sunrise, and takes the middle
one of the three buds, and eats it, then in six months you will
bring a princess into the world. As soon as she is born, she
must have a nurse, whom I shall provide, and this nurse must live
with the child in a secluded part of the palace; no other person
must visit the child; neither the king nor the queen must see it
until it is fourteen years old, for that would cause great sorrow