A young prince saw those lanterns from his father’s garden. They shone above a ring of dark fir trees, and at dawn they always went out together, as if a single hand had covered them all. People said an old king lived there in a stone castle, keeping a princess who had not walked beyond the gates for many years. No rider ever returned with news of her. So one spring morning, the prince buckled on his plain traveling cloak, took a crust of bread, and set out for the hill of lanterns.
By noon he came to a meadow and found a man lying across the grass in a most inconvenient way. His legs stretched so far that his boots rested in the shade of one willow, while his shoulders leaned against another. "Good day," said the prince. "Why do you lie across the whole meadow?" The man lifted his head. "If I draw myself in, I am cramped, and if I stretch out, I am easy. They call me Long. If you are going somewhere worth the road, I will come." "I am going to the castle on the hill," said the prince. Long folded himself up like a fishing pole and rose at once. "Then there is room for one more on the way."
Toward evening, they heard a heavy groaning among the pines. A broad-shouldered man stood between two bent trees, pressing them apart with his bare hands so a cart could pass. When the cart …
6 chapters
