The third night it was the turn of the youngest son, and he was more clever than the others, for, when the evening came, he stuffed his ears full of wax, so that he was as deaf as a post. About midnight, when the music came, he heard nothing of it, and so he stayed wide awake. After the music had ended he took the wax out of his ears, so that he might listen for the coming of the thief. Presently there was a loud clapping and rattling, and a white swan flew overhead and lit in the pear-tree above him. It began picking at one of the pears, and then the prince raised his gun to shoot at it. But when he looked along the barrel it was not a swan that he saw up in the pear-tree, but the prettiest girl that he had ever looked upon. “Don’t shoot me, king’s son! Don’t shoot me!” cried she. But the prince had no thought of shooting her, for he had never seen such a beautiful maiden in all of his days. “Very well,” said he, “I will not shoot, but, if I spare your life, will you promise to be my sweetheart and to marry me?” “That may be as may be,” said the Swan Maiden. “For listen! I serve the witch with three eyes. She lives on the glass hill that lies beyond the seven high mountains, the seven deep valleys, and the seven wide rivers; are you man enough to go that far?” “Oh, yes,” said the prince, “I am man enough for that and more too.” “That is good,” said the Swan Maiden, and thereupon she jumped down from the pear-tree to the earth. Then she became a swan again, and bade the king’s son to mount upon her back at the roots of her wings. When he had done as she had told him, she sprang into the air and flew away, bearing him with her. On flew the swan, and on and on, until, by and by, she said, “What do you see, king’s son?” “I see the grey sky above me and the dark earth below me, but nothing else,” said he. After that they flew on and on again, until, at last, the Swan Maiden said, “What do you see now, king’s son?” [Illustration: The Swan carries the Prince over the hills and far away. HP.] “I see the grey sky above me and the dark earth below me, but nothing else,” said he. So once more they flew on until the Swan Maiden said, for the third time, “And what do you see by now, king’s son?” But this time the prince said, “I see the grey sky above me and the dark earth below me, and over yonder is a glass hill, and on the hill is a house that shines like fire.” “That is where the witch with three eyes lives,” said the Swan Maiden; “and now listen: when she asks you what it is that you came for, ask her to give you the one who draws the water and builds the fire; for that is myself.” So, when they had come to the top of the hill of glass, the king’s son stepped down to the ground, and the swan flew over the roof. Rap! tap! tap! he knocked at the door, and the old witch herself came and opened it. “And what do you want here?” said she. “I want the one who draws the water and builds the fire,” said the prince.