Dapplegrim rode up to the top of the rocky ridge, and then he stamped with his great iron-shod feet, and he was so heavy that at once the ridge sank down fifteen ells into the earth. Then Boots rode up and down, and every time Dapplegrim stamped the ridge sank down under him, until at last it was as level with the earth as the palm of your hand. “And now may I have the Princess for my wife?” asked Boots. Of course, of course! The King had never intended anything else, but before she could go to church with Boots she must have a horse as great and fine as Dapplegrim to ride upon. Boots might have three days to find such a horse for his bride, but at the end of that time, if he had not found it, his head would be cut from his shoulders. Well, that seemed a hard thing to Boots. That had never been in the bargain at all. Besides, he doubted if there was such another horse as Dapplegrim in all the world beside. Out he went to Dapplegrim’s stall, and if he had been down in the mouth before he was ten times more so now. “Well, Master, what is it this time?” asked the great grey horse. “Are you not to have the Princess for your wife?” Yes, Boots was to have her, but not before he should do this and that, and he told the whole story to Dapplegrim. “This is a harder task than either of the others,” said the great horse. “There is only one other horse in the whole world that is my match in size and strength. Whether or not we can get him I do not know, for he is very wild and fierce. But before we start out on this adventure I must be new shod with fifteen pounds of iron and fifteen pounds of steel. Besides this, you must ask the King to give you a barrel of tar, twelve sacks of grain, and the carcasses of twelve oxen, and twelve hides of bullocks set all over with sharp spikes. Have these loaded upon me, and then we will set out, and what is to happen will happen.” Well, Boots went to the King and asked for all these things, and the King did not refuse him. Dapplegrim was new shod with fifteen pounds of iron and fifteen pounds of steel, and upon his back were loaded twelve sacks of grain, and the carcasses of twelve oxen, and the hides of twelve bullocks set all over with sharp spikes, and a barrel of tar. Last of all, Boots mounted his steed and away they rode, and the earth shook beneath them, and the wind whistled past their ears. They went on and on and on, till all the world seemed left behind, and at last they came out into a barren plain, and all the air around them and overhead seemed filled with the sound of the beating of great wings. “Now tell me,” said Boots, “what is that sound I hear, for it almost makes me feel afraid?” “That,” answered Dapplegrim, “is the beating of the wings of all the birds of the air that have been sent out to stop us. But do not be afraid. Cut a hole in each of the bags we carry, so that the grain will run out, and the birds will be so busy picking it up that they will never notice us.”