VI
THE DIAMOND WATER-DROP
AFTER climbing upward for a long time, they came at last to the tip-top of the pine-tree, which was on a level with the clouds. The cat waited until a large cloud sailed along pretty near them, and then, bidding Princess Hilda hold on tight, they made a spring together, and alighted very cleverly on the cloud’s edge. Off sailed the cloud with them on its back, and soon brought them to the kingdom of the Air-Spirits.
“Now, Princess Hilda,” said the cat, “you must go the rest of the way alone. Ask the first Spirit you meet to show you the way to the place where the Queen sits; and when you have found her, ask her where the Diamond Water-drop is. But be careful not to sit down, however much you may be tempted to do so; for if you do, your brother Henry never can be saved.”
Though Princess Hilda did not much like the idea of going on alone, still, since it was for her brother’s sake, she consented; only she made up her mind on no account to sit down, no matter what happened. So she bade the cat farewell, and walked off. Pretty soon, she met an Air-Spirit, carrying its nose in the air, as all Air-Spirits do.
“Can you tell me the way to the place where the Queen sits?” asked Princess Hilda.
“What do you want of her?” asked the Air-Spirit.
“I want to ask her where the Diamond Water-drop is,” answered Princess Hilda.
“She sits on the top of that large star up yonder,” said the Air-Spirit; “but unless you can carry your nose more in the air than you do, I don’t believe you will get her to tell you anything.”
Princess Hilda, however, did not feel so much like carrying her nose in the air as she had felt at any time since the black spot came upon her forehead; and she set out to climb toward the Queen’s star very sorrowfully; and all the Spirits who met her said: