nly a prince!" said the stone-cutter to himself, as the
carriage vanished round the corner. "Oh, if I were only a prince, and could
go in such a carriage and have a golden umbrella held over me, how happy I
should be!"

And the voice of the mountain spirit answered: "Your wish is heard; a
prince you shall be."

And a prince he was. Before his carriage rode one company of men and
another behind it; servants dressed in scarlet and gold bore him along, the
coveted umbrella was held over his head, everything heart could desire was
his. But yet it was not enough. He looked round still for something to
wish for, and when he saw that in spite of the water he poured on his
grass the rays of the sun scorched it, and that in spite of the umbrella
held over his head each day his face grew browner and browner, he cried in
his anger: "The sun is mightier than I; oh, if I were only the sun!"

And the mountain spirit answered: "Your wish is heard; the sun you shall
be."

And the sun he was, and felt himself proud in his power. He shot his beams
above and below, on earth and in heaven; he burnt up the grass in the
fields and scorched the faces of princes as well as of poorer folk. But in
a short time he began to grow tired of his might, for there seemed nothing
left for him to do. Discontent once more filled his soul, and when a cloud
covered his face, and hid the earth from him he cried in his anger: "Does
the cloud hold captive my rays, and is it mightier than I? Oh, that I were
a cloud, and mightier than any!"

And the mountain spirit answered: "Your wish is heard; a cloud you shall
be!"

And a cloud he was, and lay between the sun and the earth. He caught the
sun's beams and held them, and to his joy the earth grew green again and
flowers blossomed. But that was not enough for him, and for days and weeks
he poured forth rain till the rivers overflowed their banks and the crops
of rice stood in water. Towns and villages were destroyed by the power of
the rain, only the great rock on the mountain side remained unmoved. The
cloud was amazed at the sight, and cried in wonder: "Is the rock, then,
mightier than I? Oh, if I were only the rock!"

And the mountain spirit answered: "Your wish is heard; the rock you shall
be!"

And the rock he was, and glorified in his power. Proudly he stood, and
neither the heat of the sun nor the force of the rain could move him. "This
is better than all!" he said to himself. But one day he heard