Sandmans Rainy Day Stories | Page 9

of which a crowd was waiting for him, and the King also, for it had been noised abroad that a youth had been seen to climb the mountain and the people wanted to see him.
"Well done, my son," said the King, riding up to greet them. "You will make a good soldier, for you have shown that you can overcome obstacles to gain that which you desire. Come home; the wedding feast is prepared." So the Prince gained a princess for a wife, a father-in-law who admired his courage, and was happy ever after.

THE BLUE CASTLE
Once upon a time in a far-off country there lived a witch on top of a high mountain, and every year she came down into the country about and appeared at the palace of the King and asked for a bag of gold.
One night when the King and his Queen were making merry and having a big feast in honor of the birth of their little daughter, the Princess Lily, the old witch came to the palace and asked for her bag of gold.
"Tell her to begone," said the King to his servant. "I have used all the gold in the vaults for the feast; she will have to come next year."
Now the old witch was very angry when she heard this message, and she hid in the grounds of the palace until all were asleep that night, and then she entered the palace and carried off the baby Princess.
The Queen and the King were beside themselves with grief when they discovered their loss, and they offered big rewards for the return of their daughter, but she could not be found.
"Find the old witch who came here the night of the feast," said one of the King's wise men, "and you will find the Princess."
They hunted far and near, but the witch could not be found, for when any one attempted to climb the mountain where the old witch lived the insects would become as thick as mist and clouds and they could not see where to go.
One after another gave up the attempt, and so after a while the King and Queen mourned their daughter as dead and the old witch never carne to the palace again.
The Queen and King never had any more children, and every day they grieved because there would be no one to reign after they were gone.
One day one of the King's wise men said to him: "In a cave in the forest lives an ogre who has a wonderful horse; it is kept in a stable made of marble, and its stall is of gold, and it is fed on corn grown in a field of pearls.
"If we could get this horse we might be able to climb the mountain where the old witch lives, and perhaps the Princess is still alive."
"But how can we get this horse?" asked the King.
"Ah! that is the hard part," answered the wise man. "The enchanted creature can only be caught and mounted by one who can feed him with the magic corn, and it is said that any one who tries to gather the corn from the field of pearls finds himself sinking, and has to run for his life, so that only the ogre, who knows the magic words that keep the pearls from drawing him down, can gather the corn."
When the King heard this he sent for all the princes in the land to come to his palace, and when they came he told them he would give to the one who could catch and mount the ogre's enchanted horse his kingdom if he could find the lost Princess Lily, and she should become his wife.
But all the princes were rich enough, and did not care to take such a risk, especially as they had never seen the Princess Lily.
Then the King sent out word to all the poor young men in his kingdom to come to him, and he made them the same offer, but one by one they turned away, and at last there was only a poor peasant youth left.
"I will try, Your Majesty," he said, "but I will not marry the Princess unless I can love her, and if she does not wish to marry me I will not hold you to that part of the bargain, either, but I will take the kingdom if I bring back your child."
So that night the peasant boy went to a fairy that lived in the woods and asked her to help him.
"You can only enter the field of magic corn by wearing the magic shoes belonging to the ogre, and he sleeps with them under his bed. They are tied to the big toe of his right foot by a silken thread, and no one can cut