time enough," said the fairy; "but now go, and
good luck go with you."

The dwarf thanked the fairy, and said good-bye! He then threw the
reins on his horse's neck, and started up the hill, that seemed to
grow bigger and bigger as he ascended, and the dwarf soon found that
what he took for a hill was a great mountain. After travelling all the
day, toiling up by steep crags and heathery passes, he reached the top
as the sun was setting in the ocean, and he saw far below him out in
the waters the island of the Mystic Lake.

He began his descent to the shore, but long before he reached it the
sun had set, and darkness, unpierced by a single star, dropped upon
the sea. The old horse, worn out by his long and painful journey, sank
beneath him, and the dwarf was so tired that he rolled off his back
and fell asleep by his side.

He awoke at the breaking of the morning, and saw that he was almost at
the water's edge. He looked out to sea, and saw the island, but
nowhere could he see the water-steeds, and he began to fear he must
have taken a wrong course in the night, and that the island before him
was not the one he was in search of. But even while he was so thinking
he heard fierce and angry snortings, and, coming swiftly from the
island to the shore, he saw the swimming and prancing steeds.
Sometimes their heads and manes only were visible, and sometimes,
rearing, they rose half out of the water, and, striking it with their
hoofs, churned it into foam, and tossed the white spray to the skies.
As they approached nearer and nearer their snortings became more
terrible, and their nostrils shot forth clouds of vapour. The dwarf
trembled at the sight and sound, and his old horse, quivering in every
limb, moaned piteously, as if in pain. On came the steeds, until they
almost touched the shore, then rearing, they seemed about to spring on
to it. The frightened dwarf turned his head to fly, and as he did so
he heard the twang of a golden harp, and right before him who should
he see but the little man of the hills, holding a harp in one hand and
striking the strings with the other.

"Are you ready to pay the price?" said he, nodding gaily to the
dwarf.

As he asked the question, the listening water-steeds snorted more
furiously than ever.

"Are you ready to pay the price?" said the little man a second time.

A shower of spray, tossed on shore by the angry steeds, drenched the
dwarf to the skin, and sent a cold shiver to his