He walked on for some distance, and then he recollected the ring and thought he would try if the princess had spoken truly as to its powers. “I wish I was at the end of the world,” he said, shutting his eyes, and when he opened them he was standing in a street full of marble palaces. The men who passed him were tall and strong, and their clothes were magnificent. He stopped some of them and asked in all the twenty-seven languages he knew what was the name of the city, but no one answered him. Then his heart sank within him; what should he do in this strange place if nobody could understand anything? he said. Suddenly his eyes fell upon a man dressed after the fashion of his native country, and he ran up to him and spoke to him in his own tongue. “What city is this, my friend?” he inquired. “It is the capital city of the Blue Kingdom,” replied the man, “but the king himself is dead, and his daughter is now the ruler.” With this news the prince was satisfied, and begged his countryman to show him the way to the young queen’s palace. The man led him through several streets into a large square, one side of which was occupied by a splendid building that seemed borne up on slender pillars of soft green marble. In front was a flight of steps, and on these the queen was sitting wrapped in a veil of shining silver mist, listening to the complaints of her people and dealing out justice. When the prince came up she saw directly that he was no ordinary man, and telling her chamberlain to dismiss the rest of her petitioners for that day, she signed to the prince to follow her into the palace. Luckily she had been taught his language as a child, so they had no difficulty in talking together. The prince told all his story and how he was journeying in search of the Land of Immortality. When he had finished, the princess, who had listened attentively, rose, and taking his arm, led him to the door of another room, the floor of which was made entirely of needles, stuck so close together that there was not room for a single needle more. “Prince,” she said, turning to him, “you see these needles? Well, know that neither I nor any of my family can die till I have worn out these needles in sewing. It will take at least a thousand years for that. Stay here, and share my throne; a thousand years is long enough to live!” “Certainly,” answered he; “still, at the end of the thousand years I should have to die! No, I must find the land where there is no death.” The queen did all she could to persuade him to stay, but as her words proved useless, at length she gave it up. Then she said to him: “As you will not stay, take this little golden rod as a remembrance of me. It has the power to become anything you wish it to be, when you are in need.” So the prince thanked her, and putting the rod in his pocket, went his way.