they reached a large stone.
Here the old man stopped, looked sharply round on all sides, whistled
loudly, and then stamped on the ground three times with his left
foot.[111] Suddenly a secret door opened under the stone, and revealed a
covered way like the entrance to a cavern. Then the old man seized the
prince's arm, and said roughly, "Follow me!"

They were in utter darkness, but it seemed to the prince that the path
led them deeper and deeper into the earth. After some time a glimmer of
light again grew visible, but the light did not resemble that of either
the sun or moon. The prince looked up in some alarm, but could see
neither sun nor sky; only a mass of shining clouds floated over him,
which seemed to canopy this new world, in which everything had a strange
appearance. Land and water, trees and plants, animals and birds, all had
a different aspect from what he had seen before. But what seemed
strangest to him was the wonderful silence around, for there was not a
voice or a rustle to be heard anywhere. All was as still as in the
grave, and even the prince's own footsteps made no sound. Here and there
a bird might be seen sitting on a bough with stretched-out neck and
swelled throat, as if singing, but no sound was audible. The dogs opened
their mouths to bark, and the bulls raised their heads to bellow, but
neither bark nor bellow could be heard. The water flowed over the gravel
without gushing, the wind waved the tops of the trees without rustling,
and flies and beetles flew about without buzzing. The Old Boy did not
speak a word, and when his companion tried to speak he felt his voice
die away in his throat.

Nobody knows how long they travelled through this unearthly silent
country. Terror seized on the heart of the prince, his hair stood on
end like bristles, and he shivered with fear, when at length, to his
great joy, the first sound fell on his straining ears, and seemed to
make a real country of this shadowy land. It seemed to him that a great
herd of horses was toiling through swampy ground. At last the old man
opened his mouth, and said, licking his lips, "The soup kettle's
boiling, and they are expecting us at home." They went on some distance
farther, when the prince thought he heard the sound of a sawmill, in
which at least two dozen saws seemed to be at work, but the host said,
"My old grandmother is already fast asleep and snoring."

Presently they reached the top of a hill, and the prince could