. Then he remembered what the
Princess had told him--that he had only to touch them with the rod she
had given him and they would all awake; and the first he touched were
his own comrades. They started to their feet at once, and he gave them
as much silver and gold as they could carry when they went away. There
was plenty to do before he got all the others wakened, for the two doors
of the castle were crowded with them all the day long.

The loss of the Princess, however, kept rankling in his mind day and
night, till finally he thought he would go about the world to see if he
could find anyone to give him news of her. So he took the best horse in
the stable and set out. Three years he spent travelling through forests
and wildernesses, but could find no one able to tell him anything of the
Princess. At last he fell into so great despair that he thought he would
put an end to his own life, and for this purpose laid hold of the sword
that she had given him by the hands of the fair-haired lad; but on
drawing it from its sheath he noticed that there was some writing on one
side of the blade. He looked at this, and read there, 'You will find me
in the Blue Mountains.' This made him take heart again, and he gave up
the idea of killing himself, thinking that he would go on in hope of
meeting some one who could tell him where the Blue Mountains were. After
he had gone a long way without thinking where he was going, he saw at
last a light far away, and made straight for it. On reaching it he found
it came from a little house, and as soon as the man inside heard the
noise of the horse's feet he came out to see who was there. Seeing a
stranger on horseback, he asked what brought him there and where he was
going.

'I have lived here,' said he, 'for three hundred years, and all that
time I have not seen a single human being but yourself.'

'I have been going about for the last three years,' said the Irishman,
'to see if I could find anyone who can tell me where the Blue Mountains
are.'

'Come in,' said the old man, 'and stay with me all night. I have a
book which contains the history of the world, which I shall go through
to-night, and if there is such a place as the Blue Mountains in it we
shall find it out.'

The Irishman stayed there all night, and as soon as morning came rose
to go. The old man said he had not gone to sleep all night for going
through the book, but there was not a word about the Blue Mountains
in it. 'But I