hard, but give it a blow with your spear and
let us see what will happen.'

So the Prince took his spear and gave the rock a vigorous dig, which
split off several pieces, and showed that, though the surface was thinly
coated with stone, inside it was one solid mass of pure gold.

Thereupon the little monkey said, laughing at his astonishment:

'I make you a present of what you have broken off; take as much of it as
you think proper.'

The Prince thanked her gratefully, and picked up one of the smallest
of the lumps of gold; as he did so the little monkey was suddenly
transformed into a tall and gracious lady, who said to him:

'If you are always as kind and persevering and easily contented as you
are now you may hope to accomplish the most difficult tasks; go on your
way and have no fear that you will be troubled any more for lack of
gold, for that little piece which you modestly chose shall never grow
less, use it as much as you will. But that you may see the danger you
have escaped by your moderation, come with me.' So saying she led him
back into the wood by a different path, and he saw that it was full of
men and women; their faces were pale and haggard, and they ran hither
and thither seeking madly upon the ground, or in the air, starting at
every sound, pushing and trampling upon one another in their frantic
eagerness to find the way to the Golden Rock.

'You see how they toil,' said the Fairy; 'but it is all of no avail:
they will end by dying of despair, as hundreds have done before them.'

As soon as they had got back to the place where they had left Mousta
the Fairy disappeared, and the Prince and his faithful Squire, who had
greeted him with every demonstration of joy, took the nearest way to the
city. Here they stayed several days, while the Prince provided himself
with horses and attendants, and made many enquiries about the Princess
Sabella, and the way to her kingdom, which was still so far away that he
could hear but little, and that of the vaguest description, but when he
presently reached Mount Caucasus it was quite a different matter. Here
they seemed to talk of nothing but the Princess Sabella, and strangers
from all parts of the world were travelling towards her father's Court.

The Prince heard plenty of assurances as to her beauty and her riches,
but he also heard of the immense number of his rivals and their power.
One brought an army at his back, another had vast treasures, a third was