ll the rooms.

Many knights had come from afar to try their luck, but it was in vain
they attempted to climb the mountain. In spite of having their horses
shod with sharp nails, no one managed to get more than half-way up, and
then they all fell back right down to the bottom of the steep slippery
hill. Sometimes they broke an arm, sometimes a leg, and many a brave man
had broken his neck even.

The beautiful Princess sat at her window and watched the bold knights
trying to reach her on their splendid horses. The sight of her always
gave men fresh courage, and they flocked from the four quarters of the
globe to attempt the work of rescuing her. But all in vain, and for
seven years the Princess had sat now and waited for some one to scale
the Glass Mountain.

A heap of corpses both of riders and horses lay round the mountain, and
many dying men lay groaning there unable to go any farther with their
wounded limbs. The whole neighbourhood had the appearance of a vast
churchyard. In three more days the seven years would be at an end,
when a knight in golden armour and mounted on a spirited steed was seen
making his way towards the fatal hill.

Sticking his spurs into his horse he made a rush at the mountain, and
got up half-way, then he calmly turned his horse's head and came down
again without a slip or stumble. The following day he started in the
same way; the horse trod on the glass as if it had been level earth,
and sparks of fire flew from its hoofs. All the other knights gazed in
astonishment, for he had almost gained the summit, and in another moment
he would have reached the apple-tree; but of a sudden a huge eagle rose
up and spread its mighty wings, hitting as it did so the knight's horse
in the eye.

The beast shied, opened its wide nostrils and tossed its mane, then
rearing high up in the air, its hind feet slipped and it fell with its
rider down the steep mountain side. Nothing was left of either of them
except their bones, which rattled in the battered golden armour like dry
peas in a pod.

And now there was only one more day before the close of the seven years.
Then there arrived on the scene a mere schoolboy--a merry, happy-hearted
youth, but at the same time strong and well-grown. He saw how many
knights had broken their necks in vain, but undaunted he approached the
steep mountain on foot and began the ascent.

For long he had heard his parents speak of the beautiful Princess who
sat in the golden