Section09.pdf - MIT Media Laboratory

‘In this no man can help me,’ thought the Princess.
So she turned to the Sun and said:
‘Oh Sun, you shine into every crevice and over every
peak, tell me where my white dove has gone.’
But the Sun answered: ‘Though I shine over every
peak and into every crevice, I have not seen your white
dove. But I will make you a present ofthis casket: open
itonly in your sorest need.’
Then the Princess thanked the Sun, and went on her
way until evening, when the Moon came up to flood
the world with silver. Then she said:
‘Oh Moon, you shine over every field and into every
forest, tell me where my white dove has gone.’
But the Moon answered: ‘Though I shine into every
forest and over every field, 1 have nor seen your white
dove. But I will make you a present of this egg: break
it only in your sorest need.’
Then the Princess thanked the Moon, and went on
until the Night Wind came up and blew against her.
Then she said:
‘Oh Wind, you blow over every tree and under every
leaf, tell me where my white dove has gone.’
And the Night Wind made answer: ‘I have seen your
white dove. He has flown to the Red Sea and there
become a lion again, lie is fighting with a dragon, who
is really an enchantress. Go there as quickly as you may,
and on the right bank count the tall reeds until you
tome to the eleventh: break that off and strike the
dragon with it, and the lion will tonquer it, and both
return to their true forms. Then flee away both of you
from the enchantress. By the Red Sea you will find
a Griffin: swing on to its back, you and your beloved,
and it will fly away with you over the sea towards your
own home. Take this nut, and when you are above the
centre of the sea, let it fall. Immrdiaeely a nut-tree will
grow up out ofthe water on which the Griffin may rest:
for if he cannot rest, he will not be strong enough to
carry you across; and if you forget to throw the nut, he
will drop you into the sea.’
Then the Princess followed the Night Wind until she
came to the Red Sea where the lion and the dragon
were fighting. She counted the reeds and cut the eleventh,
struck the dragon with it, and at once the lion
overtame h, and both of them regained their human
shapes.
But before the Princess could stir, the beautiful
enchantress who had been the dragon, took the Prince,
see him by her on the Griffin, and flew away with him
to the Enehanted Castle where she was Queen.
The Princess sat down by the Red Sea and tried for
a little. But presently she arose and said:
‘I shall follow my love to the world’s end, as far as
the wind blows and as long as the cock trows, until
I find him.’
So she went by long roads and empty deserts until
she came to the Fnthanted Castle. There she leamt that
the wicked Queen was about to marry the Prince, whose
memory she had taken away by her magic.
Then the Princess opened the golden casket which the
Sun had given her, and in it lay a dress as bright as the
Sun itself. She took it out, put it on, and went into the
Castle where everyone, even the bride, looked at her
with astonishment and envy.
‘That will do for my wedding-dress!’ exclaimed the
Queen. ‘How much will you sell it for?’
‘Not for money, not for land,’ answered the Princess,
‘but for flesh and blood.’
The Queen asked what she meant by this, and the
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