trimmings. He was a horse fit for a king to ride, and the poor peasant looked strangely out of place on his back. Just as the peasant rode into the yard of the castle the two-headed dog dashed at the hind feet of the enchanted horse to bite him, but the horse kicked at him and over he rolled. The peasant looked back to see what had happened to the dog, but he was nowhere to be seen; in the place where he had lain was a big black-looking rock with a ragged-looking top like a set of huge teeth. The peasant was rid of both his pursuers now, and he rode off toward the mountain where the King had told him the witch lived. Up the mountain dashed the enchanted white horse, as though he had wings instead of feet, and in a few minutes he had carried the peasant to the top. The peasant looked about him, expecting to see a cave, but to his surprise he saw only[Pg 44] a grove of trees with something glistening through their leaves which looked like a house. [Pg 44] When he rode nearer to the grove he saw a deep-blue castle of glass without doors or windows, and inside he could see a girl spinning. She looked up as the shadow of the horse and rider fell on the glass castle, and her eyes grew big with surprise, but before the peasant could jump from his horse an old woman came up through the floor of the house and tapped the girl on the head with her cane, and she turned into a mouse. The peasant was too astonished to move for a minute, but the laugh of the old woman brought him to his senses and he knew she must be the witch. “Ha, ha! you caught the horse, but you cannot bring back the Princess until I will it!” she screamed, and then disappeared through the floor. The peasant walked around the blue castle, but no door or window could he find, or an opening of any kind. He was leading the horse by his gold bridle when suddenly it lifted one of its front feet and struck the blue castle. [Pg 45] [Pg 45]
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