But the young king had no peace or comfort in life for thinking of the princess who lived over beyond the three rivers. At last he called the faithful servant to him. “And can you not,” said he, “get me a cup of the Water of Life?” “I know not, but I will try,” said the faithful servant, for he bore in mind what he had promised to the old king. So out he went into the wide world, to seek for what the young king wanted, though the way there is both rough and thorny. On he went and on, until his shoes were dusty, and his feet were sore, and after a while he came to the end of the earth, and there was nothing more over the hill. There he found a little tumbled-down hut, and within the hut sat an old, old woman with a distaff, spinning a lump of flax. “Good-morning, mother,” said the faithful servant. “Good-morning, son,” says the old woman, “and where are you travelling that you have come so far?” “Oh!” says the faithful servant, “I am hunting for the Water of Life, and have come as far as this without finding a drop of it.” “Hoity, toity,” says the old woman, “if that is what you are after, you have a long way to go yet. The fountain is in the country that lies east of the Sun and west of the Moon, and it is few that have gone there and come back again, I can tell you. Besides that there is a great dragon that keeps watch over the water, and you will have to get the better of him before you can touch a drop of it. All the same, if you have made up your mind to go you may stay here until my sons come home, and perhaps they can put you in the way of getting there, for I am the Mother of the Four Winds of Heaven, and it is few places that they have not seen.” [Illustration: The young king looks upon y^e beautiful picture which the stranger showeth him.] So the faithful servant came in and sat down by the fire to wait till the Winds came home. The first that came was the East Wind; but he knew nothing of the Water of Life and the land that lay east of the Sun and west of the Moon; he had heard folks talk of them both now and then, but he had never seen them with his own eyes. The next that came was the South Wind, but he knew no more of it than his brother, and neither did the West Wind for the matter of that. Last of all came the North Wind, and dear, dear, what a hubbub he made outside of the door, stamping the dust off of his feet before he came into the house. “And do you know where the Fountain of Life is, and the country that lies east of the Sun and west of the Moon?” said the old woman. Oh, yes, the North Wind knew where it was. He had been there once upon a time, but it was a long, long distance away. “So; good! then perhaps you will give this lad a lift over there to-morrow,” said the old woman. At this the North Wind grumbled and shook his head; but at last he said “yes,” for he is a good-hearted fellow at bottom, is the North Wind, though his ways are a trifle rough perhaps.