‘Farewell,’ said the king’s son, glad in his heart to get rid of him so easily. The king’s son remained in the inn for some time, so as to let the young man have a good start; then he ordered his horse and rode after him. But he was very sociable and the way seemed long and dull by himself. ‘Oh, if I could only meet with a true friend,’ he thought, ‘so that I should have some one to speak to. I hate being alone.’
Soon after he came up with a young man, who stopped and asked him, ‘Where are you going, my fine fellow?’ The king’s son explained the object of his journey, and the young man answered, as the other had done, that he also was fulfilling the vow of his mother made at his birth.
‘Well, we can ride on together,’ said the king’s son, and the road seemed much shorter now that he had some one to talk to.
At length they reached an inn, and the king’s son exclaimed, ‘I am very hungry; let us go in and get something to eat.’
When they had finished the king’s son drew an apple out of his pocket and cut it in two; he held the big bit and the little bit out to his companion, who took the big bit at once and soon ate it up. ‘You are no friend of mine,’ thought the king’s son, and began to declare he felt so ill he could not continue his journey. When he had given the young man a good start he set off himself, but the way seemed even longer and duller than before. ‘Oh, if I could only meet with a true friend he should be as a brother to me,’ he sighed sadly; and as the thought passed through his mind, he noticed a youth going the same road as himself.
The youth came up to him and said, ‘Which way are you going, my fine fellow?’ And for the third time the king’s son explained all about his mother’s vow. Why, that is just like me,’ cried the youth.
‘Then let us ride on together,’ answered the king’s son.
