Atondido Stories
so hard that he didn’t know where he was or what had hap-
pened to him until he found himself sitting on the ground.
In his vexation he began to throw away the dumplings,
thinking that perhaps their weight had dragged him down. He
took one and threw it straight at the hill. Imagine his surprise to
see it fix itself firmly in the glass. He threw a second and a third
and there he had three steps on which he was able to stand with
safety!
The prince was overjoyed. He threw dumpling after dump-
ling and each one of them became a step. First he threw the lead-
en ones, then the silver ones, and last of all the golden ones. On
the steps made in this way he climbed higher and higher until he
had reached the very summit of the hill. Then he knelt under the
magic tree, lifted up his hands, and into them the Three Citrons
dropped of their own accord!
Instantly the tree disappeared, the Glass Hill sank until it
was lost, and when the prince came to himself there was neither
tree nor hill to be seen, but only a wide plain.
Delighted with the outcome of his adventure, the prince
turned homewards. At first he was too happy even to eat or
drink. By the third day his stomach began to protest and he dis-
covered that he was so hungry that he would have fallen rav-
enously upon a leaden dumpling if he had had one in his pocket.
But his pocket, alas, was empty, and the country all about was as
bare as the palm of his hand.
Then he remembered what the ogre of the Golden Castle had
told him and he took out one of the Three Citrons. He cut it
open, and what do you suppose happened? Out jumped a beau-
tiful maiden fresh from the hand of God, who bowed low before
him and exclaimed:
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