The Princess smiled when she saw him, and then he saw that the window which looked so small to him from the ground was really a door.
He stepped in and knelt at the feet of the blushing Princess, who said, “I shall be glad to leave here, but how can I get to the ground?”
“In my arms,” answered the bold Prince, and, picking her up, he stepped out on the smooth wall again, easily reaching the ground with the Princess.
He placed her in front of him on his horse and rode down the mountain, at the bottom of which a crowd was waiting for him, and the King also, for it had been noised abroad that a youth had been seen to climb the mountain and the people wanted to see him.
“Well done, my son,” said the King, riding up to greet them. “You will make a good soldier, for you have shown that you can overcome obstacles to gain that which you desire. Come home; the wedding feast is prepared.” So the Prince gained a princess for a wife, a father-in-law who admired his courage, and was happy ever after.
THE BLUE CASTLE
Once upon a time in a far-off country there lived a witch on top of a high mountain, and every year she came down into the country about and appeared at the palace of the King and asked for a bag of gold.
One night when the King and his Queen were making merry and having a big feast in honor of the birth of their little daughter, the Princess Lily, the old witch came to the palace and asked for her bag of gold.
“Tell her to begone,” said the King to his servant. “I have used all the gold in the vaults for the feast; she will have to come next year.”