“I
will willingly give it back to you.” He took it out of his pocket, and
reached it to her in the dark. She snatched it in haste, and wanted to
go away with it. “Stop a moment, perhaps I can help you.” “You can only
help me by ascending the glass-mountain, and freeing me from the power
of the witch. But you cannot come to the glass-mountain, and indeed if
you were quite close to it you could not ascend it.” “When I want to do
a thing I always can do it,” said the drummer; “I am sorry for you, and
have no fear of anything. But I do not know the way which leads to the
glass-mountain.” “The road goes through the great forest, in which the
man-eaters live,” she answered, “and more than that, I dare not tell
you.” And then he heard her wings quiver, as she flew away. By daybreak the drummer arose, buckled on his drum, and went without
fear straight into the forest. After he had walked for a while without
seeing any giants, he thought to himself, “I must waken up the
sluggards,” and he hung his drum before him, and beat such a reveille
that the birds flew out of the trees with loud cries. It was not long
before a giant who had been lying sleeping among the grass, rose up,
and was as tall as a fir-tree. “Wretch!” cried he; “what art thou
drumming here for, and wakening me out of my best sleep?” “I am
drumming,” he replied, “because I want to show the way to many
thousands who are following me.” “What do they want in my forest?”
demanded the giant. “They want to put an end to thee, and cleanse the
forest of such a monster as thou art!” “Oho!” said the giant, “I will
trample you all to death like so many ants.” “Dost thou think thou
canst do anything against us?” said the drummer; “if thou stoopest to
take hold of one, he will jump away and hide himself; but when thou art
lying down and sleeping, they will come forth from every thicket, and
creep up to thee. Every one of them has a hammer of steel in his belt,
and with that they will beat in thy skull.” The giant grew angry and
thought, “If I meddle with the crafty folk, it might turn out badly for
me. I can strangle wolves and bears, but I cannot protect myself from
these earth-worms.” “Listen, little fellow,” said he; “go back again,
and I will promise you that for the future I will leave you and your
comrades in peace, and if there is anything else you wish for, tell me,
for I am quite willing to do something to please you.” “Thou hast long
legs,” said the drummer, “and canst run quicker than I; carry me to the
glass-mountain, and I will give my followers a signal to go back, and
they shall leave thee in peace this time.” “Come here, worm,” said the
giant; “seat thyself on my shoulder, I will carry thee where thou
wishest to be.” The giant lifted him up, and the drummer began to beat
his drum up aloft to his heart’s delight. The giant thought, “That is
the signal for the other people to turn back.”

After a while, a second giant was standing in the road, who took the
drummer from the first, and stuck him in his button-hole. The drummer
laid hold of the button, which was as large as a dish, held on by it,
and looked merrily around. Then they came to a third giant, who took
him out of the button-hole, and set him on the rim of his hat. Then the
drummer walked backwards and forwards up above, and looked over the
trees, and when he perceived a mountain in the blue distance, he
thought, “That must be the glass-mountain,” and so it was. The giant
only made two steps more, and they reached the foot of the mountain,
where the giant put him down. The drummer demanded to be put on the
summit of the glass-mountain, but the giant shook his head, growled
something in his beard, and went back into the forest. And now the poor drummer was standing before the mountain, which was as
high as if three mountains were piled on each other, and at the same
time as smooth as a looking-glass, and did not know how to get up it. He began to climb, but that was useless, for he always slipped back
again. “If one was a bird now,” thought he; but what was the good of
wishing, no wings grew for him. Whilst he was standing thus, not knowing what to do, he saw, not far
from him, two men who were struggling fiercely together. He went up to
them and saw that they were disputing about a saddle which was lying on
the ground before them, and which both of them wanted to have. “What
fools you are,” said he, “to quarrel about a saddle, when you have not
a horse for it!” “The saddle is worth fighting about,” answered one of
the men; “whosoever sits on it, and wishes himself in any place, even
if it should be the very end of the earth, gets there the instant he
has uttered the wish. The saddle belongs to us in common. It is my turn
to ride on it, but that other man will not let me do it.” “I will soon
decide the quarrel,” said the drummer, and he went to a short distance
and stuck a white rod in the ground. Then he came back and said, “Now
run to the goal, and whoever gets there first, shall ride first.” Both
put themselves into a trot; but hardly had they gone a couple of steps
before the drummer swung himself on the saddle, wished himself on the
glass-mountain, and before any one could turn round, he was there. On
the top of the mountain was a plain; there stood an old stone house,
and in front of the house lay a great fish-pond, but behind it was a
dark forest. He saw neither men nor animals, everything was quiet; only
the wind rustled amongst the trees, and the clouds moved by quite close
above his head. He went to the door and knocked. When he had knocked
for the third time, an old woman with a brown face and red eyes opened
the door. She had spectacles on her long nose, and looked sharply at
him; then she asked what he wanted. “Entrance, food, and a bed for the
night,” replied the drummer. “That thou shalt have,” said the old
woman, “if thou wilt perform three services in return.” “Why not?” he
answered, “I am not afraid of any kind of work, however hard it may
be.” The old woman let him go in, and gave him some food and a good bed
at night. The next morning when he had had his sleep out, she took a
thimble from her wrinkled finger, reached it to the drummer, and said,
“Go to work now, and empty out the pond with this thimble; but thou
must have it done before night, and must have sought out all the fishes
which are in the water and laid them side by side, according to their
kind and size.” “That is strange work,” said the drummer, but he went
to the pond, and began to empty it. He baled the whole morning; but
what can any one do to a great lake with a thimble, even if he were to
bale for a thousand years? When it was noon, he thought, “It is all useless, and whether I work or
not it will come to the same thing.” So he gave it up and sat down. Then came a maiden out of the house who set a little basket with food
before him, and said, “What ails thee, that thou sittest so sadly
here?” He looked at her, and saw that she was wondrously beautiful.