Atondido Stories
The Story of a Prince Who Climbed the Glass Hill
Once upon a time there was an aged king who had an only son.
One day he called the prince to him and said: “My son, you see
that my head is white. Soon I shall be closing my eyes and you
are not yet settled in life. Marry, my son, marry at once so that I
can bless you before I die.”
The prince made no answer but he took the king’s words to
heart and pondered them. He would gladly have done as his fa-
ther wished but there was no young girl upon whom his affec-
tions were set.
One day when he was sitting in the garden, wondering what
to do, an old woman suddenly appeared before him.
“Go,” she said, “to the top of the Glass Hill, pluck the Three
Citrons, and you will get a wife in whom your heart will de-
light.” With that she disappeared as mysteriously as she had
come.
Her words went through the prince’s soul like a bright dart.
Instantly he determined, come what might, to find the Glass Hill
and to pluck the Three Citrons. He told his father his intention
and the old king fitted him out for the journey and gave him his
blessing.
For a long time the prince wandered over wooded mountains
and desert plains without seeing or even hearing anything of the
Glass Hill and the Three Citrons. One day, worn out with his
long journey, he threw himself down in the shade of a wide-
spreading linden tree. As his father’s sword, which he wore at
his side, clanked on the ground, twelve ravens began cawing
from the top of the tree. Frightened by the clanking of the sword,
they raised their wings and flew off.
The prince jumped to his feet. “Those are the first living crea-
tures I have seen for many a day. I’ll go in the direction they
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