will take you
to the shore opposite the Island of the Mystic Lake. You must cross to
the island on his back, and make your way through the water-steeds that
swim around the island night and day to guard it; but woe betide you if
you attempt to cross without paying the price, for if you do the angry
water-steeds will rend you and your horse to pieces. And when you come
to the Mystic Lake you must wait until the waters are as red as wine,
and then swim your horse across it, and on the farther side you will
find the spear and shield; but woe betide you if you attempt to cross
the lake before you pay the price, for if you do, the black Cormorants
of the Western Seas will pick the flesh from your bones."

"What is the price?" said the dwarf.

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

The dwarf thanked the fairy, and said good-by. 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 traveling 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 vapor. The dwarf trembled at the sight and sound, and
his old h