" alas , what have you done ! " cried he . " now you have made both of us unhappy . if you had only held out until the end of the year , i would have been delivered . i have a step - mother who has cast a spell on me , so that by day i am a bear , and at night a human being . but now all is over between us , and i must return to my step - mother . she lives in a castle that is east of the sun and west of the moon , where there is a princess with a nose three yards long , whom i must now marry . " the maiden wept and wailed to no avail , for the prince said he must journey away . then she asked him whether she might not go with him . no , said he , that could not be . " but can you not at least tell me the road , so that i can search for you . for surely that will be permitted me ? " " yes , that you may do , " said he . " but there is no road that leads there . the castle lies east of the sun and west of the moon , and neither now nor at any other time will you find the road to it ! "
east of the sun and west of the moon .
where did the step-mother live ?
where did the step-mother live ?