the rest were far,
far behind and out of sight.

Nothing daunted, however, he went on and on, till he perceived that he
was entering a valley with great rocky mountains on all sides, and
that his horse was getting very tired and trembled at every stride.
Worse than all evening was already drawing on, and the sun would soon
set. In vain had he sent arrow after arrow at the beautiful stag.
Every shot fell short, or went wide of the mark; and at last, just as
darkness was setting in, he lost sight altogether of the beast. By
this time his horse could hardly move from fatigue, his hound
staggered panting along beside him, he was far away amongst mountains
where he had never been before, and had quite missed his way, and not
a human creature or dwelling was in sight.

All this was very discouraging, but the king would not have minded if
he had not lost that beautiful stag. That troubled him a good deal,
but he never worried over what he could not help, so he got down from
his horse, slipped his arm through the bridle, and led the animal
along the rough path in hopes of discovering some shepherd's hut, or,
at least, a cave or shelter under some rock, where he might pass the
night.

Presently he heard the sound of rushing water, and made towards it. He
toiled over a steep rocky shoulder of a hill, and there, just below
him, was a stream dashing down a precipitous glen, and, almost beneath
his feet, twinkling and flickering from the level of the torrent, was
a dim light as of a lamp. Towards this light the king with his horse
and hound made his way, sliding and stumbling down a steep, stony
path. At the bottom the king found a narrow grassy ledge by the brink
of the stream, across which the light from a rude lantern in the mouth
of a cave shed a broad beam of uncertain light. At the edge of the
stream sat an old hermit with a long white beard, who neither spoke
nor moved as the king approached, but sat throwing into the stream
dry leaves which lay scattered about the ground near him.

'Peace be upon you,' said the king, giving the usual country
salutation.

'And upon you peace,' answered the hermit; but still he never looked
up, nor stopped what he was doing.

For a minute or two the king stood watching him. He noticed that the
hermit threw two leaves in at a time, and watched them attentively.
Sometimes both were carried rapidly down by the stream; sometimes only
one leaf was carried off, and the other, after whirling