tock still, and the young man jumped off the horse and left the hounds
and began to follow the white stag all alone. And soon it was quite
dark, and the sky was black, without a single star shining in it, and
the stag went away into the darkness. And though the man had brought his
gun with him he never shot at the stag, because he wanted to catch it,
and he was afraid he would lose it in the night. But he never lost it
once, though the sky was so black and the air was so dark, and the stag
went on and on till the young man didn't know a bit where he was. And
they went through enormous woods where the air was full of whispers and
a pale, dead light came out from the rotten trunks that were lying on
the ground, and just as the man thought he had lost the stag, he would
see it all white and shining in front of him, and he would run fast to
catch it, but the stag always ran faster, so he did not catch it. And
they went through the enormous woods, and they swam across rivers, and
they waded through black marshes where the ground bubbled, and the air
was full of will-o'-the-wisps, and the stag fled away down into rocky
narrow valleys, where the air was like the smell of a vault, and the man
went after it. And they went over the great mountains and the man heard
the wind come down from the sky, and the stag went on and the man went
after. At last the sun rose and the young man found he was in a country
that he had never seen before; it was a beautiful valley with a bright
stream running through it, and a great, big round hill in the middle.
And the stag went down the valley, towards the hill, and it seemed to
be getting tired and went slower and slower, and though the man was
tired, too, he began to run faster, and he was sure he would catch the
stag at last. But just as they got to the bottom of the hill, and the
man stretched out his hand to catch the stag, it vanished into the
earth, and the man began to cry; he was so sorry that he had lost it
after all his long hunting. But as he was crying he saw there was a door
in the hill, just in front of him, and he went in, and it was quite
dark, but he went on, as he thought he would find the white stag. And
all of a sudden it got light, and there was the sky, and the sun
shining, and birds singing in the trees, and there was a beautiful
fountain. And by the fountain a lovely lady was sitting, who was the
queen of the fairies, and she told the man that she had changed herself
into a