and who was to marry
the _Princess_ with a nose three ells long.

"How did you come to know about him?" asked the old hag; "but maybe
you are the lassie who ought to have had him?"

Yes, she was.

"So, so; it's you, is it?" said the old hag. "Well, all I know about
him is, that he lives in the castle that lies _East of the Sun and
West of the Moon_, and thither you'll come, late or never; but still
you may have the loan of my horse, and on him you can ride to my next
neighbour. Maybe she'll be able to tell you; and when you get there,
just give the horse a switch under the left ear, and beg him to be off
home; and, stay, this gold apple you may take with you."

So she got upon the horse, and rode a long, long time, till she came
to another crag, under which sat another old hag, with a gold
carding-comb. Here the lassie asked if she knew the way to the castle
that lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and she answered,
like the first old hag, that she knew nothing about it, except it was
east of the sun and west of the moon.

"And thither you'll come, late or never, but you shall have the loan
of my horse to my next neighbour; maybe she'll tell you all about it;
and when you get there, just switch the horse under the left ear, and
beg him to be off home."

And this old hag gave her the golden carding-comb; it might be she'd
find some use for it, she said. So the lassie got up on the horse, and
rode a far, far way, and a weary time; and so at last she came to
another great crag, under which sat another old hag, spinning with a
golden spinning-wheel. Her, too, she asked if she knew the way to the
_Prince_, and where the castle was that lay _East of the Sun and West
of the Moon_. So it was the same thing over again.

"Maybe it's you who ought to have had the _Prince_?" said the old
hag.

Yes, it was.

But she, too, didn't know the way a bit better than the other two.
"East of the sun and west of the moon it was," she knew--that was
all.

"And thither you'll come, late or never; but I'll lend you my horse,
and then I think you'd best ride to the East Wind and ask him; maybe
he knows those parts, and can blow you thither. But when you get to
him, you need only give the horse a switch under the left ear, and
he'll trot home of himself."

And so, too, she gave her the gold spinning-wheel. "Maybe you'll find
a use for it," said the old hag.

Then on she rode many many days, a weary time, before she got to