“What is that? The poor princess.”
“It is indeed sad,” said they; “for she will freeze to death every lover that kisses her lips and she will endure terrible agonies; for every man who looks upon her will be smitten, and she will let him kiss her to test his love, and he will die on the spot, frozen through and through by the shock of the cold of her heart striking against the heat of his heart.”
“Too bad!” said he.
“Not so,” they cried. “It served her right.”
“But is there no cure for this malady?” he asked.
“Yes, indeed,” they cried; “and a very sweet one it is.”
“What is it?” asked he. “Inasmuch as you have said I deserve everything I wish, I wish that information.”
They laughed and glanced merrily at each other, thinking he was trying to catch them in a falsehood.
“First of all, then,” said one, “there must come a very brave man; for he must overcome the serpent at the foot of the hill; he must scale the fence of glass, and he must answer our question correctly. And then he must go to the center of the earth and kiss our queen.”
“Show me the way to the center of the earth,” he demanded.