g attained my object. You
have spoken of difficulties; tell me, I entreat you, what they are, so
that I may know if I can overcome them, or see if they are beyond my
strength."

So the dervish repeated his tale, and dwelt more firmly than before on
the clamour of the voices, the horrors of the black stones, which were
once living men, and the difficulties of climbing the mountain; and
pointed out that the chief means of success was never to look behind
till you had the cage in your grasp.

"As far as I can see," said the princess, "the first thing is not to
mind the tumult of the voices that follow you till you reach the cage,
and then never to look behind. As to this, I think I have enough
self-control to look straight before me; but as it is quite possible
that I might be frightened by the voices, as even the boldest men have
been, I will stop up my ears with cotton, so that, let them make as
much noise as they like, I shall hear nothing."

"Madam," cried the dervish, "out of all the number who have asked me
the way to the mountain, you are the first who has ever suggested such
a means of escaping the danger! It is possible that you may succeed,
but all the same, the risk is great."

"Good dervish," answered the princess, "I feel in my heart that I shall
succeed, and it only remains for me to ask you the way I am to go."

Then the dervish said that it was useless to say more, and he gave her
the ball, which she flung before her.

The first thing the princess did on arriving at the mountain was to
stop her ears with cotton, and then, making up her mind which was the
best way to go, she began her ascent. In spite of the cotton, some
echoes of the voices reached her ears, but not so as to trouble her.
Indeed, though they grew louder and more insulting the higher she
climbed, the princess only laughed, and said to herself that she
certainly would not let a few rough words stand between her and the
goal. At last she perceived in the distance the cage and the bird,
whose voice joined itself in tones of thunder to those of the rest:
"Return, return! never dare to come near me."

At the sight of the bird, the princess hastened her steps, and without
vexing herself at the noise which by this time had grown deafening, she
walked straight up to the cage, and seizing it, she said: "Now, my
bird, I have got you, and I shall take good care that you do not
escape." As she spoke she took the cotton from her ears, for it