you may hope to accomplish the most difficult tasks; go on your
way and have no fear that you will be troubled any more for lack of
gold, for that little piece which you modestly chose shall never grow
less, use it as much as you will. But that you may see the danger you
have escaped by your moderation, come with me.' So saying she led him
back into the wood by a different path, and he saw that it was full of
men and women; their faces were pale and haggard, and they ran hither
and thither seeking madly upon the ground, or in the air, starting at
every sound, pushing and trampling upon one another in their frantic
eagerness to find the way to the Golden Rock.

'You see how they toil,' said the Fairy; 'but it is all of no avail:
they will end by dying of despair, as hundreds have done before them.'

As soon as they had got back to the place where they had left Mousta the
Fairy disappeared, and the Prince and his faithful Squire, who had
greeted him with every demonstration of joy, took the nearest way to the
city. Here they stayed several days, while the Prince provided himself
with horses and attendants, and made many enquiries about the Princess
Sabella, and the way to her kingdom, which was still so far away that he
could hear but little, and that of the vaguest description, but when he
presently reached Mount Caucasus it was quite a different matter. Here
they seemed to talk of nothing but the Princess Sabella, and strangers
from all parts of the world were travelling towards her father's Court.

The Prince heard plenty of assurances as to her beauty and her riches,
but he also heard of the immense number of his rivals and their power.
One brought an army at his back, another had vast treasures, a third was
as handsome and accomplished as it was possible to be; while, as to poor
Mannikin, he had nothing but his determination to succeed, his faithful
spaniel, and his ridiculous name--which last was hardly likely to help
him, but as he could not alter it he wisely determined not to think of
it any more. After journeying for two whole months they came at last to
Trelintin, the capital of the Princess Sabella's kingdom, and here he
heard dismal stories about the Ice Mountain, and how none of those who
had attempted to climb it had ever come back. He heard also the story of
King Farda-Kinbras, Sabella's father. It appeared that he, being a rich
and powerful monarch, had married a lovely Princess named Birbantine,
and the