my baby sister, who is a
witch and has iron teeth. Please let me stay with you, and I'll be
very little trouble, and thread your needles for you when you break
them."

"Prince Ivan, my dear," said one of the old women, "this is not the
end of the world, and little good would it be to you to stay with us.
For as soon as we have broken all our needles and used up all our
thread we shall die, and then where would you be? Your sister with the
iron teeth would have you in a minute."

The little Prince cried bitterly, for he was very little and all
alone. He rode on further over the wide world, the black horse
galloping and galloping, and throwing the dust from his thundering
hoofs.

He came into a forest of great oaks, the biggest oak trees in the
whole world. And in that forest was a dreadful noise--the crashing of
trees falling, the breaking of branches, and the whistling of things
hurled through the air. The Prince rode on, and there before him was
the huge giant, Tree-rooter, hauling the great oaks out of the ground
and flinging them aside like weeds.

"I should be safe with him," thought little Prince Ivan, "and this,
surely, must be the end of the world."

He rode close up under the giant, and stopped the black horse, and
shouted up into the air.

"Please, great giant," says he, "is this the end of the world? And may
I live with you and be safe from my sister, who is a witch, and grows
like a seed of corn, and has iron teeth?"

"Prince Ivan, my dear," says Tree-rooter, "this is not the end of the
world, and little good would it be to you to stay with me. For as soon
as I have rooted up all these trees I shall die, and then where would
you be? Your sister would have you in a minute. And already there are
not many big trees left."

And the giant set to work again, pulling up the great trees and
throwing them aside. The sky was full of flying trees.

Little Prince Ivan cried bitterly, for he was very little and was all
alone. He rode on further over the wide world, the black horse
galloping and galloping under the tall trees, and throwing clods of
earth from his thundering hoofs.

He came among the mountains. And there was a roaring and a crashing in
the mountains as if the earth was falling to pieces. One after another
whole mountains were lifted up into the sky and flung down to earth,
so that they broke and scattered into dust. And the big black horse
galloped through the mountains, and little Prince Ivan