When the Old Woman of the Mountain saw that the Prince knew what he was about, she gave up trying to deceive him and let him lead off the horse he wanted. So the Prince walked away dragging the poor mangy creature after him. When he was out of sight of the Old Woman's house, he turned to the horse and began rubbing down his rough coat and patting his wobbly legs.
"Now, my beauty," he said, "we'll see what you're made of!"
Under his hand the mangy beast changed to a glorious animal—one of those wonder horses of the olden days that rise on the wind and gallop with the clouds. Soon his coat shone like burnished gold and his tail and mane streamed out like flames of fire.
"Ah, my master," the horse said, "I have been waiting for you this many a day! We shall have glorious adventures together!"
Then the Prince mounted him and he rose on the wind and went so swiftly that he covered in three minutes all the distance that it had taken the Prince three days to go on an ordinary horse. Whiff! and there they were at the dragon's castle and there was the Princess running out to welcome them.
"Now, my dear one," the Prince said, lifting the Princess up in front of him, "this time the dragon will not overtake us!"
The wonder horse rose on the wind and off they went.
When the dragon got home and found that the Princess had fled again, he said to his horse:
"Shall we follow her at once or shall we eat supper first?"
"It's all one what we do," the horse said, "for we shall never overtake her."