"Well, I was quite as much frightened when you stopped to look at the Princess."
A little further on, the whale once more plunged and remained longer under the water, saying to the Prince on rising again to the surface:—
"Were you afraid?"
"Yes, terribly."
"Well, I was quite as much terrified when you wrote your name on the wall."
In the evening Carl arrived at the cottage of the Queen of the Fishes. As a return for the service she had rendered him, he gave her a golden apple and some drops from the marvellous spring.
As soon as the nine-hundred-years-old woman had drunk the water and eaten the apple, the wrinkles disappeared from her face; between her lips shone two rows of white teeth; her form became upright; and, in short, in place of a decrepit old woman, appeared a young girl with golden tresses, sparkling eyes, and rosy cheeks. She warmly thanked Carl for his generosity, and said to him, as he was departing:—
"I also have a present for you. Take this bridle and shake it—and you will see what it will give you."
The Prince obeyed, and at the same moment saw before him a superb horse, which quietly allowed itself to be mounted and, with the rapidity of the wind, bore him to the Queen of the Birds.