When the Prince woke up in the early morning, he was not a little surprised to find that he was already high above the clouds.  He was sitting on the back of the Eastwind, who was holding him carefully; they were so high up that woods and fields, rivers and lakes, looked like a large coloured map.

‘Good morning,’ said the Eastwind.  ’You may as well sleep a little longer, for there is not much to be seen in this flat country below us, unless you want to count the churches.  They look like chalk dots on the green board.’

He called the fields and meadows ‘the green board.’

’It was very rude of me to leave without saying good-bye to your mother and brothers,’ said the Prince.

‘One is excused when one is asleep!’ said the Eastwind, and they flew on faster than ever.  You could mark their flight by the rustling of the trees as they passed over the woods; and whenever they crossed a lake, or the sea, the waves rose and the great ships dipped low down in the water, like floating swans.  Towards evening the large towns were amusing as it grew dark, with all their lights twinkling now here, now there, just as when one burns a piece of paper and sees all the little sparks like children coming home from school.  The Prince clapped his hands, but the Eastwind told him he had better leave off and hold tight, or he might fall and find himself hanging on to a church steeple.

The eagle in the great forest flew swiftly, but the Eastwind flew more swiftly still.  The Kossack on his little horse sped fast over the plains, but the Prince sped faster still.

[Illustration:  The eagle in the great forest flew swiftly, but the Eastwind flew more swiftly still.]

‘Now you can see the Himalayas!’ said the Eastwind.  ’They are the highest mountains in Asia; we shall soon reach the Garden of Paradise.’

They took a more southerly direction, and the air became scented with spices and flowers.  Figs and pomegranates grew wild, and the wild vines were covered with blue and green grapes.  They both descended here and stretched themselves on the soft grass, where the flowers nodded to the wind, as much as to say, ‘Welcome back.’

‘Are we in the Garden of Paradise now?’ asked the Prince.

‘No, certainly not!’ answered the Eastwind.  ’But we shall soon be there.  Do you see that wall of rock and the great cavern where the wild vine hangs like a big curtain?  We have to go through there!  Wrap yourself up in your cloak, the sun is burning here, but a step further on it is icy cold.  The bird which flies past the cavern has one wing out here in the heat of summer, and the other is there in the cold of winter.’

‘So that is the way to the Garden of Paradise!’ said the Prince.

Now they entered the cavern.  Oh, how icily cold it was; but it did not last long.  The Eastwind spread his wings, and they shone like the brightest flame; but what a cave it was!  Large blocks of stone, from which the water dripped, hung over them in the most extraordinary shapes; at one moment it was so low and narrow that they had to crawl on hands and knees, the next it was as wide and lofty as if they were in the open air.  It looked like a chapel of the dead, with mute organ pipes and petrified banners.