lad if
you can help me." Then he told all that had happened.

And the horse said, "Enter in at my left ear, and come out at my
right."

The prince obeyed, and came out at the right ear clad in a suit of
splendid armour. His gilded cuirass, his steel helmet inlaid with
gold, and his sword and club made of him a complete warrior. Still
more, he felt himself endowed with superhuman strength and bravery.
When he stamped his foot and shouted the earth trembled and gave forth
a sound like thunder, the very leaves fell from the trees.

[Illustration]

"What must we do? Where are we to go?" he asked.

The horse replied, "Your bride, Princess Pietnotka, has been carried
off by the Dwarf with the Long Beard, whose hump weighs two hundred
and eighty pounds. This powerful magician must be defeated, but he
lives a long way from here, and nothing can touch or wound him except
the sharp smiting sword that belongs to his own brother, a monster
with the head and eyes of a basilisk. We must first attack the
brother."

Prince Dobrotek leaped on to the dappled horse, which was covered with
golden trappings, and they set off immediately, clearing mountains,
penetrating forests, crossing rivers; and so light was the steed's
step that he galloped over the grass without bending a single blade,
and along sandy roads without raising a grain of dust. At last they
reached a vast plain, strewn with human bones. They stopped in front
of a huge moving mountain, and the horse said:

"Prince, this moving mountain that you see before you is the head of
the Monster with Basilisk Eyes, and the bones that whiten the ground
are the skeletons of his victims, so beware of the eyes that deal
death. The heat of the midday sun has made the giant sleep, and the
sword with the never-failing blade lies there before him. Bend down
and lie along my neck until we are near enough, then seize the sword
and you have nothing more to fear. For, without the sword, not only
will the monster be unable to harm you, but he himself will be
completely at your mercy."

The horse then noiselessly approached the huge creature, upon which
the prince bent down, and quickly picked up the sword. Then, raising
himself on his steed's back, he gave a "Hurrah!" loud enough to wake
the dead. The giant lifted his head, yawned, and turned his
bloodthirsty eyes upon the prince; but seeing the sword in his hand he
became quiet, and said, "Knight, is it weariness of life that brings
y