ld Woman, if you do not keep your
bargain I shall strike you dead with this sword and stick up your
grinning skull on that empty picket!"

At that the empty picket began to shout:

"I want my skull! I want my skull!"

When the Old Woman of the Mountain saw that the Prince knew what he was
about, she gave up trying to deceive him and let him lead off the horse
he wanted. So the Prince walked away dragging the poor mangy creature
after him. When he was out of sight of the Old Woman's house, he turned
to the horse and began rubbing down his rough coat and patting his
wobbly legs.

"Now, my beauty," he said, "we'll see what you're made of!"

Under his hand the mangy beast changed to a glorious animal--one of
those wonder horses of the olden days that rise on the wind and gallop
with the clouds. Soon his coat shone like burnished gold and his tail
and mane streamed out like flames of fire.

"Ah, my master," the horse said, "I have been waiting for you this many
a day! We shall have glorious adventures together!"

Then the Prince mounted him and he rose on the wind and went so swiftly
that he covered in three minutes all the distance that it had taken the
Prince three days to go on an ordinary horse. Whiff! and there they were
at the dragon's castle and there was the Princess running out to welcome
them.

"Now, my dear one," the Prince said, lifting the Princess up in front of
him, "this time the dragon will not overtake us!"

The wonder horse rose on the wind and off they went.

When the dragon got home and found that the Princess had fled again, he
said to his horse:

"Shall we follow her at once or shall we eat supper first?"

"It's all one what we do," the horse said, "for we shall never overtake
her."

At that the dragon leaped upon his horse and, mounting on the wind,
started off in hot pursuit. Presently they caught sight of the other
horse carrying the Prince and the Princess but, try as he would, the
dragon's horse could not overtake the other. The dragon beat his horse
unmercifully and dug his sharp claws into the horse's tender flanks
until the horse in agony called out to the Prince's horse:

"Hold, brother, hold! Let me overtake you or this monster will kill me
with his cruelty!"

"Why do you carry such a monster?" the Prince's horse called back.
"Throw him from you and be rid of him forever!"

At that the dragon's horse reared suddenly and the dragon, losing his
balance, fell and was dashed