Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/327

Rh "That's whither we are bound," said the ass; "it's the golden castle that hangs in the air, and there lives a princess who has been stolen by a Troll with nine heads; but all the wild beasts there are in the world lie on watch, and stop the way thither."

"Uf!" said Boots; "I almost think I'm afraid of them."

"Don't say so," said the ass; and then he told him there was no danger, if he would only make up his mind not to linger there, but to set off on his way back as soon as ever he had filled his flasks with the water, for there was no going thither but during one hour in the day, and that began at high noon; but if he were not man enough to be ready in time and to get away, the beasts would tear him into a thousand pieces.

Well, Boots said he would be sure to do that; he would not think of staying too long.

At the stroke of twelve they reached the castle, and there lay all the wild and savage beasts that ever were, as it were a fence before the gate and on either side of the way. But they all slumbered like stocks and stones, and there wasn't one of them that so much as lifted a paw. So Boots passed between them, and took good heed not to tread on their toes or the tips of their tails, and he filled his flasks with the waters of life and death; and while he did that he looked up at the castle, which was as though it were cast in pure gold. It was the grandest he had ever seen, and he thought it would be grander still inside than out.

"Stuff!" thought Boots; "I have time enough; I can always look about me in half-an-hour," and so he opened the door and went in. Well, inside it was