sat bravely on
his back. And there, close before him, was the huge giant
Mountain-tosser, picking up the mountains like pebbles and hurling
them to little pieces and dust upon the ground.

"This must be the end of the world," thought the little Prince; "and
at any rate I should be safe with him."

"Please, great giant," says he, "is this the end of the world? And may
I live with you and be safe from my sister, who is a witch, and has
iron teeth, and grows like a seed of corn?"

"Prince Ivan, my dear," says Mountain-tosser, resting for a moment and
dusting the rocks off his great hands, "this is not the end of the
world, and little good would it be to you to stay with me. For as soon
as I have picked up all these mountains and thrown them down again I
shall die, and then where would you be? Your sister would have you in
a minute. And there are not very many mountains left."

And the giant set to work again, lifting up the great mountains and
hurling them away. The sky was full of flying mountains.

Little Prince Ivan wept bitterly, for he was very little and was all
alone. He rode on further over the wide world, the black horse
galloping and galloping along the mountain paths, and throwing the
stones from his thundering hoofs.

At last he came to the end of the world, and there, hanging in the sky
above him, was the castle of the little sister of the Sun. Beautiful
it was, made of cloud, and hanging in the sky, as if it were built of
red roses.

"I should be safe up there," thought little Prince Ivan, and just then
the Sun's little sister opened the window and beckoned to him.

Prince Ivan patted the big black horse and whispered to it, and it
leapt up high into the air and through the window, into the very
courtyard of the castle.

"Stay here and play with me," said the little sister of the Sun; and
Prince Ivan tumbled off the big black horse into her arms, and laughed
because he was so happy.

Merry and pretty was the Sun's little sister, and she was very kind to
little Prince Ivan. They played games together, and when she was tired
she let him do whatever he liked and run about her castle. This way
and that he ran about the battlements of rosy cloud, hanging in the
sky over the end of the world.

But one day he climbed up and up to the topmost turret of the castle.
From there he could see the whole world. And far, far away, beyond the
mountains, beyond the forests, beyond the wide plains, he saw his
fa