Channa promised to do this for the mouse, and trudged off toward the mountain. When she got to it she sat down on a stone to rest. Some ants were busy close by, and one of them addressed Channa, saying, “Who are you and whither are you going?”
She answered, “I am an unhappy girl who is seeking the Mother of Time.”
“Then keep on over the mountain to a large plain, and there you will get more news,” the ant said. “After you find the old woman please ask her how the ants can live longer. We store up a great deal of food, and this seems to me a folly while our lives are so short.”
“Be at ease,” Channa responded. “You can be sure that I will do your errand.”
Then she toiled on over the mountain to the great plain, where a wide-spreading old oak tree called to her as she was passing. “Whither are you going so sad, my little lady?” it said. “Come and rest in my shade.”
She thanked the old oak, but begged to be excused from stopping because she was going in haste to find the Mother of Time.
“You are not far from her dwelling,” the oak announced. “Before you have finished another day’s journey you will get to a high mountain on the summit of which is the home of her whom you seek. If you have as much kindness as beauty you will oblige me by asking her why it is that my fruit which used to be relished by strong men is now only made the food of hogs.”
“It will be a pleasure to do you such a service,” Channa affirmed, and departed.
The next day she arrived at the foot of a mountain which had its summit far up among the clouds. There she found an old man, wearied and wayworn, who had lain down on some hay. The moment he saw Channa he knew her, for he was the pilgrim to whom she had ministered. When she told him what she was seeking he responded that at last he could make some return for her kindness.
“My pretty maiden,” he said, “I would have you know that on the top of this mountain you will find a castle which was built so long ago that no one knows when it was built. The walls are cracked, the foundations are crumbling, the doors are worm-eaten, the furniture is worn out, and, in short, everything is gone to wrack and ruin.