TWILIGHT LAND

bosom a whip with a steel-pointed lash, and as the dogs
came springing towards them she laid about her right and
left, till the skin flew and the blood ran, and the dogs
leaped away howling and yelping.

At the edge of the water was a great stone mill, and
the queen pointed towards it and bade the prince turn it.
Strong as he was, it was as much as he could do to work
it; but grind it he did, though the sweat ran down his
face in streams. By-and-by a speck appeared far away
upon the water; and as the prince ground and ground at
the mill the speck grew larger and larger. It was some-
thing upon the water, and it came nearer and nearer as
swiftly as the wind. At last it came close enough for
him to see that it was a little boat all of brass. By-and-
by the boat struck upon the beach, and as soon as it
did so the queen entered it, bidding the prince do the
same.

No sooner were they seated than away the boat went,
still as swiftly as the wind. On it flew and on it flew,
until at last they came to another shore, the like of which
the prince had never seen in his life before. Down tothe
edge of the water ran a garden—but such a garden! The
leaves of the trees were all of silver and the fruit of gold,
and instead of flowers were precious stones—white, red,
yellow, blue, and green—that flashed like sparks of sun-
light as the breeze moved them this way and that way.
Beyond the silver trees, with their golden fruit, was a
great palace as white as snow, and so bright that one had
to shut one’s eyes as one looked upon it.

The boat ran up on the beach close to just such a stone
mill as the prince had seen upon the other side of the
water, and then he and the queen stepped ashore. As

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