The Pink Fairy Book, part 20 · page 21 2101A moment now and he would have gained it, when, through the groans and yells, he heard his brothers’ voices.102He turned, and there was one stone the more.103And all this while his sister was pacing up and down the palace, hardly letting the knife out of her hand, and dreading what she knew she would see, and what she did see.104The blade grew red before her eyes, and she said, ‘Now it is my turn.’105So she walked, and she walked, and she walked till she came to the giant, and prayed him to tell her if he had seen three young men pass that way seeking the distant mountain.106‘I have seen them pass, but they have never returned, and by this I know that the spell has fallen upon them.’107‘And what must I do to set them free, and to find the water of life, and the talking bird, and a branch of the tree of beauty?’108‘You must go to that mountain, which is so full of stones that your feet will hardly find a place to tread, and as you climb you will hear a noise as if all the stones in the world were mocking you; but pay no heed to anything you may hear, and, once you gain the top, you have gained everything.’109The girl thanked him for his counsel, and set out for the mountain; and scarcely had she gone a few steps upwards when cries and screams broke forth around her, and she felt as if each stone she trod on was a living thing.110But she remembered the words of the giant, and knew not what had befallen her brothers, and kept her face steadily towards the mountain top, which grew nearer and nearer every moment.111But as she mounted the clamour increased sevenfold: high above them all rang the voices of her three brothers.112But the girl took no heed, and at last her feet stood upon the top.113Then she looked round, and saw, lying in a hollow, the pool of the water of life.114And she took the brazen pitcher that she had brought with her, and filled it to the brim.115By the side of the pool stood the tree of beauty, with the talking bird on one of its boughs; and she caught the bird, and placed it in a cage, and broke off one of the branches.116After that she turned, and went joyfully down the hill again, carrying her treasures, but her long climb had tired her out, and the brazen pitcher was very heavy, and as she walked a few drops of the water spilt on the stones, and as it touched them they changed into young men and maidens, crowding about her to give thanks for their deliverance.117So she learnt by this how the evil spell might be broken, and she carefully sprinkled every stone till there was not one left--only a great company of youths and girls who followed her down the mountain.1 2← previousThe Pink Fairy Book, part 19next →The Pink Fairy Book, part 21↑ back to The Pink Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/20/page/2/