n as he asked for it. Then Gluck took some bread in his
basket, and the bottle of water, and set off very early for the
mountains.

If the glacier had occasioned a great deal of fatigue to his brothers,
it was twenty times worse for him, who was neither so strong nor so
practised on the mountains. He had several bad falls, lost his basket
and bread, and was very much frightened at the strange noises under the
ice. He lay a long time to rest on the grass, after he had got over,
and began to climb the hill just in the hottest part of the day. When he
had climbed for an hour, he got dreadfully thirsty, and was going to
drink like his brothers, when he saw an old man coming down the path
above him, looking very feeble, and leaning on a staff. "My son," said
the old man, "I am faint with thirst. Give me some of that water." Then
Gluck looked at him, and when he saw that he was pale and weary, he gave
him the water; "Only pray don't drink it all," said Gluck. But the old
man drank a great deal, and gave him back the bottle two-thirds empty.
Then he bade him good speed, and Gluck went on again merrily. And the
path became easier to his feet, and two or three blades of grass
appeared upon it, and some grasshoppers began singing on the bank beside
it; and Gluck thought he had never heard such merry singing.

Then he went on for another hour, and the thirst increased on him so
that he thought he should be forced to drink. But, as he raised the
flask, he saw a little child lying panting by the road-side, and it
cried out piteously for water. Then Gluck struggled with himself, and
determined to bear the thirst a little longer; and he put the bottle to
the child's lips, and it drank it all but a few drops. Then it smiled on
him, and got up and ran down the hill; and Gluck looked after it, till
it became as small as a little star, and then turned and began climbing
again. And then there were all kinds of sweet flowers growing on the
rocks, bright green moss with pale pink starry flowers, and soft belled
gentians, more blue than the sky at its deepest, and pure white
transparent lilies. And crimson and purple butterflies darted hither and
thither, and the sky sent down such pure light that Gluck had never felt
so happy in his life.

Yet, when he had climbed for another hour, his thirst became intolerable
again; and, when he looked at his bottle, he saw that there were only
five or six drops left in it, and he could not venture to dr