ome miles further on they saw a man
drinking out of a stream till he had nearly drunk it dry.

'Good father,' said the youth, 'just look at that man! Did you ever see
anybody drink like that?'

'Ask him why he does it,' answered the hermit.

'Why, there is nothing very odd in taking a mouthful of water!' replied
the man, standing up.

'Beg him to come with us.' And the youth did so.

'With pleasure, as long as you give me enough to eat and drink.'

And the youth whispered to the hermit, 'Good father, before we were
four, and now we are five.'

A little way along they noticed another man in the middle of a stream,
who was shooting into the water.

'Good father,' said the youth, 'what can he be shooting at?'

'Ask him,' answered the hermit.

'Hush, hush!' cried the man; 'now you have frightened it away. In the
Underworld sits a quail on a tree, and I wanted to shoot it. That is my
business. I hit everything I aim at.'

'Ask him if he will come with us.'

And the man replied, 'With all my heart, as long as I get enough to eat
and drink.'

So they took him into the ship, and the young man whispered, 'Good
father, before we were five, and now we are six.'

Off they went again, and before they had gone far they met a man
striding towards them whose steps were so long that while one foot was
on the north of the island the other was right down in the south.

'Good father, look at him! What long steps he takes!'

'Ask him why he does it,' replied the hermit.

'Oh, I am only going out for a little walk,' answered he.

'Ask him if he will come with us.'

'Gladly, if you will give me as much as I want to eat and drink,' said
he, climbing up into the ship.

And the young man whispered, 'Good father, before we were six, and
now we are seven.' But the hermit knew what he was about, and why he
gathered these strange people into the ship.

After many days, at last they reached the town where lived the king and
his daughter. They stopped the vessel right in front of the palace, and
the young man went in and bowed low before the king.

'O Majesty, I have done your bidding, and now is the ship built that
can travel over land and sea. Give me my reward, and let me have your
daughter to wife.'

But the king said to himself, 'What! am I to wed my daughter to a man of
whom I know nothing. Not even whether he be rich or poor--a knight or a
beggar.'

And aloud he spake: It is not enough that you have managed to bui