e there was a Glass Mountain at the top of which stood
a castle made of pure gold, and in front of the castle there grew an
apple-tree on which there were golden apples.

Anyone who picked an apple gained admittance into the golden castle,
and there in a silver room sat an enchanted Princess of surpassing
fairness and beauty. She was as rich too as she was beautiful, for the
cellars of the castle were full of precious stones, and great chests
of the finest gold stood round the walls of all 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.

[Footnote 16: From the Polish. Kletke.]

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 l