When he awoke it was day, but the woods were as still as death; no bird sang, and not a cricket chirped among the grass. As he sat up he noticed that the shoe was gone from his left foot, nor could he see it anywhere near. “Tis the half of my inheritance gone!” he said to himself, and got up to search about him. But still no shoe could he find. At last he gave up the search as useless, and set off walking without it. Then as it seemed to him so ridiculous to go limping along with only one shoe on, he took off the remaining one, and threw it away, saying: “Go, stupid, and find your fellow!” To the Prince’s great astonishment, it set off at a rapid pace through the wood, all of its own accord. The Prince, barefoot except for his stockings, began to run after it. Presently he found that he was losing his breath. “Hie, hie!” he called out, “not quite so fast, little leather-skins!” But the shoe paid him no heed and went on as before. It skipped through the grass and brushwood, as if a young girl’s foot were dancing inside it; and whenever it came to a fallen tree, or a boulder of rock, it was up and over with a jump like a grasshopper. Before long the Prince’s stockings were in nothing but holes and tatters; as he ran they fluttered from his legs like ribbons. He had lost his hat, and his cloak was torn into patterns, and he felt from head to foot like a house all doors and windows. He was almost on his last gasp when he saw that the shoe was making straight for a strange little house of green bronze, shut in by a high wall, and showing no windows; and in the middle of the wall was a bronze door shut fast. As he came near he found that outside, on the doorstep, stood his other shoe as if waiting to be let in. “So it was worth running for!” thought he; and then, putting on both shoes again, he began knocking at the door. As he knocked the door opened. It opened in such a curious way, flat down like a swing-bridge or like the lid of a box. For some time he was half afraid to walk in on the top of it. Presently, however, he summoned up his courage and stepped across it. The door closed behind him like a trap, and he found himself in a beautiful house; all its walls were hung with gold and precious stones, but everywhere was the emptiness and the silence of death. He went from room to room seeking for any that lived there, but could see no one. In one place he found thrown down a fan of white feathers and pearl; and in another flowers, fresh plucked, lying close by a cushion dinted and hollowed, as though the weight of a head or arm had rested there. But beyond these there was no sign of a living thing to be found. Through the windows he saw deep bowery gardens hemmed in by high walls, within which grew flowers of the loveliest kinds. All the paths were of smooth grass, and everywhere were the traces of gentle handiwork; but still not a soul was to be seen.