o
move. The snake was just about to swallow it whole, when Mark seized a
large stone and threw it with all his strength into the reptile's
wide-open mouth. Down went the stone into his throat, and choked him
directly.

The frog hopped joyfully into the ditch at the side of the road,
croaking out, "Thank you, Mark; I will repay you!"

"I declare the frog said the same thing," said Mark; "it is very
strange! But no doubt they are all fairies."

By this time he had arrived at the foot of the mountain; but, alas!
between it and him flowed a deep river, and so broad you could scarcely
see the other side.

"Oh dear," cried Mark, "what shall I do? I can't walk on water, and
there is neither boat or bridge." He sat down on the bank, covered his
face with his hands, and cried aloud, "Oh, Fairy Benevolence, come and
help me! Why did you tell me about the wonderful plant which would save
my dear mother's life, when you knew very well I could never get to the
mountain!"

At this instant, the rooster he had saved from the fox appeared, and
said, "Listen to me, Mark; the fairy Benevolence cannot help you here.
This mountain is beyond her dominions. But you have saved my life, and I
am not ungrateful: get on my back, and I promise you, on the faith of an
honorable rooster, I will carry you to the other side of the river."

Little Mark was overjoyed to hear this. He gave a spring, and was in a
moment astride of his comical steed, holding on by two feathers. The
rooster carried him as smoothly and easily as a steamboat; but not quite
so fast, for it took twenty-one days' paddling to accomplish the
journey; but at last he was landed high and dry on the opposite bank of
the river.

Mark now travelled for a long time, but the mountain seemed to recede;
and when at last he arrived at its foot, and began to climb, he thought
it was growing up in the air, like Jack's beanstalk. He journeyed
twenty-one days up and up, but did not get the least bit discouraged:
his great love for his mother gave him both patience and perseverance.
"If I have to walk for twenty-one years," he said aloud, "I will never
stop till I get to the top."

"Twenty-one years," echoed a malicious, sneering voice. "You are a very
conceited little chap! Pray, what do you want?" and out came, from a
cave in the mountain, a little man with one eye in the middle of his
face, and two noses side by side.

"I wish to find the plant of life, sir," answered Mark, with a