After the king of Denmark dies, the queen is so inconsolable that her only child, the prince, suggests that they should go to a place on the other side of a forest.
They become lost in the woods, but come upon two houses, the first containing a mail shirt and a sword, with a note that said they would keep a man safe from all danger, which the prince, unbeknownst to his mother, takes.
The second house contains food and a bed (granting them both food and a place to sleep), but unfortunately it is a robber's den, and the next morning, when the prince is off hunting for the path, the queen is surprised by the robber chief, who tells her that if she wants to live, she must make him king in her husband's place and must kill her son.
After taking the apples, he starts to leave the wood, but a little black dog leads him to a tiny hole in the hill, which the sword enlarges enough for the prince to enter.
A princess of Arabia is chained to an iron pillar within; twelve robbers had captured her and were fighting over who would marry her.
As the princess falls asleep due to the heat, the prince sees, about her neck, a small shining lamp on a chain.
The prince disguises himself as a peddler and then orders a great many pots and pans from a goldsmith, using them to distract his mother with them while he searches for and then reclaims the sword and mail shirt.
When the robber chief returns, the prince strips him of his fine clothes and sends him into the forest, "where the wild beasts tore him to pieces," and sent his mother back to her own country.