nd started to mount his donkey.

The beast he took hold of seemed very small, and, as he mounted, he felt
that its sides were moist and slimy. It gave him a shudder, and he
hesitated; but at that moment he heard a distant clock strike. It was
striking eleven! There was still time to reach the castle of fortune,
but no more than enough; so he mounted his new steed and rode on once
more. The animal was easier to sit on than the donkey, and the saddle
seemed remarkably high behind; it was good to lean against. But even the
donkey was not so slow as this; the new steed was slower than he. After
a while, however, he pushed his way out of the woods into the open, and
there stood the castle, only a little way ahead! All its windows were
ablaze with lights. A ray from them fell on the lazy man's beast, and he
saw what he was riding: it was a gigantic snail! a snail as large as a
calf!

A cold shudder ran over the lazy man's body, and he would have got off
his horrid animal then and there, but just then the clock struck once
more. It was the first of the long, slow strokes that mark midnight! The
man grew frantic when he heard it. He drove his heels into the snail's
sides, to make him hurry. Instantly, the snail drew in his head, curled
up in his shell, and left the lazy man sitting in a heap on the ground!

The clock struck twice. If the man had run for it, he could still have
reached the castle, but, instead, he sat still and shouted for a horse.

"A beast, a beast!" he wailed, "any kind of a beast that will take me to
the castle!"

The clock struck three times. And as it struck the third note, something
came rustling and rattling out of the darkness, something that sounded
like a horse with harness. The lazy man jumped on its back, a very
queer, low back. As he mounted, he saw the doors of the castle open, and
saw his friend standing on the threshold, waving his cap and beckoning
to him.

The clock struck four times, and the new steed began to stir; as it
struck five, he moved a pace forward; as it struck six, he stopped; as
it struck seven, he turned himself about; as it struck eight, he began
to move backward, away from the castle!

The lazy man shouted, and beat him, but the beast went slowly backward.
And the clock struck nine. The man tried to slide off, then, but from
all sides of his strange animal great arms came reaching up and held him
fast. And in the next ray of moonlight that broke the dark clouds, he
saw