t once. He saw the hawk
swooping down upon the church, and in a moment he had seized his gun
and shot at the bird. The hawk fell heavily under a big stone, severely
wounded in its right wing. The youth ran to look at it, and saw that
a huge abyss had opened below the stone. He went at once to fetch his
brothers, and with their help dragged a lot of pine-wood and ropes to
the spot. They fastened some of the burning pine-wood to the end of the
rope, and let it slowly down to the bottom of the abyss. At first it was
quite dark, and the flaming torch only lit up dirty grey stone walls.
But the youngest brother determined to explore the abyss, and letting
himself down by the rope he soon reached the bottom. Here he found a
lovely meadow full of green trees and exquisite flowers.

In the middle of the meadow stood a huge stone castle, with an iron gate
leading to it, which was wide open. Everything in the castle seemed
to be made of copper, and the only inhabitant he could discover was
a lovely girl, who was combing her golden hair; and he noticed that
whenever one of her hairs fell on the ground it rang out like pure
metal. The youth looked at her more closely, and saw that her skin was
smooth and fair, her blue eyes bright and sparkling, and her hair as
golden as the sun. He fell in love with her on the spot, and kneeling at
her feet, he implored her to become his wife.

The lovely girl accepted his proposal gladly; but at the same time she
warned him that she could never come up to the world above till her
mother, the old witch, was dead. And she went on to tell him that the
only way in which the old creature could be killed was with the sword
that hung up in the castle; but the sword was so heavy that no one could
lift it.

Then the youth went into a room in the castle where everything was made
of silver, and here he found another beautiful girl, the sister of his
bride. She was combing her silver hair, and every hair that fell on the
ground rang out like pure metal. The second girl handed him the sword,
but though he tried with all his strength he could not lift it. At last
a third sister came to him and gave him a drop of something to drink,
which she said would give him the needful strength. He drank one drop,
but still he could not lift the sword; then he drank a second, and the
sword began to move; but only after he had drunk a third drop was he
able to swing the sword over his head.

Then he hid himself in the c