but I have never blown so far as that. If you like,
however, I will go with you to my brother, the North Wind; he is the
oldest and strongest of all of us, and if he does not know where it is
no one in the whole world will be able to tell you. You may sit upon
my back, and then I will carry you there." So she seated herself on his
back, and off he went from his house in great haste, and they were not
long on the way. When they came near the North Wind's dwelling, he was
so wild and frantic that they felt cold gusts a long while before they
got there. "What do you want?" he roared out from afar, and they froze
as they heard. Said the South Wind: "It is I, and this is she who should
have had the Prince who lives in the castle which lies east of the sun
and west of the moon. And now she wishes to ask you if you have ever
been there, and can tell her the way, for she would gladly find him
again."

"Yes," said the North Wind, "I know where it is. I once blew an aspen
leaf there, but I was so tired that for many days afterward I was not
able to blow at all. However, if you really are anxious to go there, and
are not afraid to go with me, I will take you on my back, and try if I
can blow you there."

"Get there I must," said she; "and if there is any way of going I will;
and I have no fear, no matter how fast you go."

"Very well then," said the North Wind; "but you must sleep here
to-night, for if we are ever to get there we must have the day before
us."

The North Wind woke her betimes next morning, and puffed himself up, and
made himself so big and so strong that it was frightful to see him, and
away they went, high up through the air, as if they would not stop until
they had reached the very end of the world. Down below there was such a
storm! It blew down woods and houses, and when they were above the sea
the ships were wrecked by hundreds. And thus they tore on and on, and
a long time went by, and then yet more time passed, and still they were
above the sea, and the North Wind grew tired, and more tired, and at
last so utterly weary that he was scarcely able to blow any longer, and
he sank and sank, lower and lower, until at last he went so low that the
waves dashed against the heels of the poor girl he was carrying. "Art
thou afraid?" said the North Wind. "I have no fear," said she; and it
was true. But they were not very, very far from land, and there was just
enough strength left in the North Wind to enable him t