s left the cottage, carrying
with her her three gifts, and prepared to face all the perils of her
journey with an undaunted heart.

"It would be impossible to describe all she went through during the
seven days which passed before she reached the sea of glass. She saw
some strange and wonderful sights, for in those days the world was very
different from what it is now. She was often tired and hungry, thankful
for a cup of milk or crust of bread from those she happened to meet on
the way. But her courage never failed her, and at last, on the morning
of the eighth day, she saw shining before her in the sunlight the great
silent sea of glass of which she had been told.

"It would have been hopeless to attempt to cross it without fairy aid,
for it was polished more brightly than any mirror, and so hard that no
young Princess's bones could have borne a fall on its cruel surface. But
with the magic shoes there was less than no difficulty, for no sooner
had the Princess slipped her feet into them than they turned into
skates, and very wonderful skates, for they possessed the power of
enabling their wearer to glide along with the greatest swiftness. The
Princess had never skated in her life, and she was delighted.

"'Next to flying,' she said to herself, 'nothing could be pleasanter,'
and she was almost sorry when her skim across the sea of glass was over,
and she found herself at the foot of the hill of ice.

"She looked upwards with something like despair. It was a terrible
ascent to attempt, for the mountain was all but straight, so steep were
its sides of hard, clear, sparkling ice. The Princess looked at her
feet, the magic shoes had already disappeared; she looked at the staff
she still held in her hand--how could a stick help her up such a
mountain? and half impatiently, half hopelessly, she threw it from her.
Instantly it stretched itself out, growing wider and wider, the notches
in the wood expanding, till it had taken the shape of a roughly-made
ladder of irregular steps, hooked on to the ice by the sharp spike at
its end, and the Princess, ashamed of her discouragement, mounted up the
steps without difficulty, and as she reached the top one, of itself the
ladder pushed up before her, so that she could mount straight up without
hesitation.

"She stepped forward bravely. It took a long time, even though she had
the fairy aid, and by the time she reached the top of the hill night had
fallen, and but for the light o