at last the morning broke
and she saw a road before her, bordered on one side by a forest of
trees, for she had reached the extreme edge of the moor. She had gone
but a little way when she came to a small and miserable hovel, from
which issued feeble sounds of distress. The Princess went up to the door
and looked in--a very old woman sat huddled up in a corner weeping and
lamenting herself.

"'What is the matter, my friend?' asked the Princess.

"'Matter enough,' replied the old woman. 'I cannot light my fire, and I
am bitterly cold. Either the sticks are wet, or the strength has gone
out of my poor old arms.'

"'Let me help you,' said the Princess. 'My arms are strong enough.'

"She took the sticks and arranged them cleverly in the fireplace, and
just as she was choosing two of the driest to rub together to get a
light, one of her balls dropped out of her pocket. It fell on to the
piled-up wood, and immediately a bright flame danced up the chimney. The
Princess picked up her ball and put it back in her pocket, cheered and
encouraged by this proof of their magic power. The old woman came near
to the fire, and stretched out her withered hands to the blaze.

"'What can I do for you, my pretty lady,' she said, 'in return for your
good nature?'

"'Give me a cup of milk to refresh me for my journey,' said the
Princess. 'And perhaps, too, you can tell me something about my journey.
Are the hill of ice and the sea of glass anywhere in this
neighbourhood?'

"The old woman smiled and nodded her head two or three times.

"'Seven days must you travel,' she said, 'before you see them. At the
foot of the hill of ice lies the sea of glass. No mortal foot unaided
has ever crossed the one or ascended the other. Here, take these
shoes--with them you can safely walk over the sea of glass, and with
this staff you can mount the hill of ice,' and as she spoke she handed
to the Princess a pair of curiously carved wooden shoes and a short
sharp-pointed stick. The Princess took them gratefully, and would have
thanked the old woman, whom she now knew to be a fairy, but she stopped
her. "'Think not,' she said, 'that your difficulties will be over when
you have reached the summit of the hill of ice. But all I can do for you
more is to give you this nut, which you must open in your moment of
sorest perplexity.'

"And as the Princess held out her hand for the nut the old woman had
disappeared.

"But refreshed and encouraged the Princes