"'I see naught,' said Boots, 'but land and water and bare sky and high crags.'

"So they went on far and farther than far, and then the a.s.s said again,

"'Do you see anything now?'

"'Yes,' when he had looked well before him, he saw something a long, long way off, that shone like a little star.

"'It will be big enough by-and-by,' said the a.s.s.

"When they had gone a good bit still, the a.s.s asked,

"'Do you see anything now?'

"'Now I see it shining like a moon,' said the lad.

"'Ay, ay,' said the a.s.s, and on they went.

"So when they had gone far, and farther than far away, over land and strand, and hill and heath, the a.s.s asked,

"'Do you see anything now?'

"'Now, methinks,' said Boots, 'it shines most like the sun.'

"'Ay,' said the a.s.s, 'that's the golden castle for which we are bound; but outside it lives a worm, which stops the way and keeps watch and ward.'

"'I think I shall be afraid of it,' said Boots.

"'Oh, don't say so,' said the a.s.s, 'we must spread over it heaps of boughs, and lay between them layers of horseshoe brads and nails, and set fire to them all, and so we shall be rid of it.'

"So after a long, long time they came up to where the castle hung in the air, but the worm lay underneath it and stopped the way. So the lad gave the dragons a good meal of beeves and salted swine, that they might help him, and they spread over the worm heaps of boughs and wood, and laid between them layers of nails and brads, till they had used up the three hundred chests, and when it was all done they set fire to the pile and burned up the worm alive, in a fire at white heat.

"So when they had done with him one dragon flew under the castle and lifted it up, and the two others went up high, high into the air, and unloosed the links and hooks by which it hung, and so they lowered it down and set it on the ground. When that was done Boots went inside, and there it was grander far than in the silvern castle, but he could see no folk till he came to the innermost room, and there lay a princess on a bed of gold. She slept so sound, as though she were dead, but she was not, though he was not able to wake her up, for her face was as red and white as milk and blood. And just as Boots stood there gazing at her, back came the troll tearing along. As soon as he put his first head through the door he screamed out,

"'Hu! what a smell of Christian blood there is in here.'

"'Maybe,' said Boots, 'but you've no need to smell and snort about that; you shan't suffer long from it.'

"And with that he cut off all his heads, as though they stood on a kail stalk.

"So the dragons took the golden castle on their backs and went home with it--I fancy they were not long on the way--and set it down side by side with the silvern castle, so that it shone both far and wide.

"Now when the princess of the silvern castle came to her window in the morning, and caught sight of it, she was so glad that she sprang over to the golden castle at once; but when she saw her sister lying there and sleeping as though she were dead, she said to Boots that they would never get life into her before they found the water of life and death, and that stood in two wells on either side of a golden castle which hung in the air, nine hundred miles beyond the world's end, and where the third sister dwelt.

"Well, Boots thought there was no help for it; he must go and fetch it, and it was not long before he was on his way. So he travelled far and farther than far, through many realms, across wood and field, over fell and firth, along hill and heath, and at last he got to the world's end, and after that he travelled far, far over crags and wastes and high rocks.

"'Do you see anything?' asked the a.s.s one day.

"'I see naught but heaven and earth,' said the lad.

"'Do you see anything now?' asked the a.s.s again, when some days were past.

"'Yes,' said Boots, 'now I see something that glimmers very high up, far, far away, like a little star.'

"'It's not so little for all that,' said the a.s.s.

"So when they had travelled on a while, the a.s.s asked,

"'Do you see anything now?'

"'Yes,' said Boots, 'now it shines like the sun.'

"'That's whither we are bound,' said the a.s.s; 'it's the golden castle that hangs in the air, and there lives a princess who has been stolen by a troll with nine heads; but all the wild beasts there are in the world lie on watch, and stop the way thither.'

"'Uf,' said Boots, 'I almost think I'm afraid of them.'

"'Don't say so,' said the a.s.s; and then he told him there was no danger, if he would only make up his mind not to linger there, but to set off on his way back as soon as ever he had filled his flasks with the water, for there was no going thither but during one hour in the day, and that began at high noon; but if he were not man enough to be ready in time and to get away, the beasts would tear him into a thousand pieces.

"Well, Boots said he would be sure to do that, he would not think of staying too long.

"At the stroke of twelve they reached the castle, and there lay all the wild and savage beasts that ever were, as it were a fence before the gate, and on either side of the way. But they all slumbered like stocks and stones, and there wasn't one of them that so much as lifted a paw.

So Boots pa.s.sed between them, and took good heed not to tread on their toes or the tips of their tails, and he filled his flasks with the waters of life and death, and while he did that he looked up at the castle, which was as though it were cast in pure gold. It was the grandest he had ever seen, and he thought it would be grander still inside than out.

"'Stuff,' thought Boots, 'I have time enough, I can always look about me in half an hour,' and so he opened the door and went in. Well, inside it was grander than grand itself, and as he went out of one gorgeous room into another, it was as if it was all made of gold and pearls, and everything that was costliest in the world. Folk there were none; but at last he came into a bedroom where there lay another princess on a bed of gold, just as though she were dead too, but she was as grand as the grandest queen, and as red and white as blood on snow, and so lovely he had never seen anything so lovely but her picture; for she it was that was painted on it.

"Then Boots forgot both the water he was to fetch, and the wild beasts, and the castle and everything, and could only gaze at the princess; and he thought he could never have his fill of looking at her; but all the while she slept as though she were dead, and he was not able to wake her up.

"So when it drew towards evening, the troll came tearing along so that the wind sung after him, and he rattled and slammed the gates and doors till the whole castle rang again.

"'Huf,' he cried; 'what a strong smell of Christian blood there is in here;' and then he stuck his first head inside the door and snuffed up the air.

"'I daresay there is,' said Boots, 'but you've no need to puff and blow as though you were about to burst, for it shan't vex you long;' and as he said that he cut off all his nine heads. But when he had done that he got so weary he couldn't keep his eyes open. So he laid him down on the bed by the side of the princess, and all the while she slept both night and day, as though she would never wake again; only at midnight she just woke up for the twinkling of an eye, and then she told him that he had set her free, but she must bide there three years still, and if she didn't come home to him then he must just come and fetch her.

"When the clock began to go towards one next day, Boots woke for the first time, and the first thing he heard was the a.s.s braying and screaming and making a stir, and so he thought he would get up and set off home, but before he went he cut a breadth out of the princess's skirt, and took it away with him. And however it was, he had loitered so long there that the beasts began to wake and stir, and by the time he had mounted his a.s.s they stood in a ring round him, so that he thought it had rather a ghastly look. But the a.s.s said he must sprinkle on them a few drops of the water of death, and he did so, and in a trice they all fell headlong on the spot, and never stirred a limb more.

"As they were on their way home, the a.s.s said to Boots,--

"'Now when you come to honour and glory, see if you don't forget me and all I have done for you, so that I shall be broken-kneed for hunger.'

"'Nay, nay! that should never be,' said the lad.

"So when he got home to the princess with the water of life, she sprinkled a few drops over her sister, and woke her up, and then there was such great joy and they were so happy. Then they travelled home to the king, and he too was glad and joyful, because he had got those two back; but still he went about longing and longing that the three years might pa.s.s away, and his youngest daughter come home.

"As for Boots, who had brought them back, the king made him a mighty man, so that he was the first in the land after the king himself. But there were many who were jealous that he should have grown to be such a man of mark, and one of them was Ritter Red, who they did say wished to have the eldest princess, and he got her to sprinkle over Boots a little of the water of death, so that he swooned off and lay as dead.

"So when the three years were over, and a bit of the fourth was gone, there came sailing up a strange ship of war, and on board was the third sister, and with her she had a boy three years old. She sent word up to the King's Grange, and said she would not set her foot on land till they had sent him who had been in the golden castle and set her free. So they sent down to her one of the highest men about the court, the master of the ceremonies himself; and when he came on board the princess' ship, he took off his hat and bowed and sc.r.a.ped, and bent himself before her.

"'Can that be your father? my son,' said the princess to her boy, who was playing with a golden apple.

"'No,' said the child, 'my father doesn't crawl about like a cheesemite.'