So the girl seated herself on the horse, and rode for a long, long way, and at last she came to the mountain, where an aged woman was sitting outside with a gold carding-comb.  The girl asked her if she knew the way to the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon; but she said what the first old woman had said:  “I know nothing about it, but that it is east of the sun and west of the moon, and that you will be a long time in getting to it, if ever you get there at all; but you shall have the loan of my horse to an old woman who lives the nearest to me:  perhaps she may know where the castle is, and when you have got to her you may just strike the horse beneath the left ear and bid it go home again.”  Then she gave her the gold carding-comb, for it might, perhaps, be of use to her, she said.

So the girl seated herself on the horse, and rode a wearisome long way onward again, and after a very long time she came to a great mountain, where an aged woman was sitting, spinning at a golden spinning-wheel.  Of this woman, too, she inquired if she knew the way to the Prince, and where to find the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon.  But it was only the same thing once again.  “Maybe it was you who should have had the Prince,” said the old woman.  “Yes, indeed, I should have been the one,” said the girl.  But this old crone knew the way no better than the others—­it was east of the sun and west of the moon, she knew that, “and you will be a long time in getting to it, if ever you get to it at all,” she said; “but you may have the loan of my horse, and I think you had better ride to the East Wind, and ask him:  perhaps he may know where the castle is, and will blow you thither.  But when you have got to him you must just strike the horse beneath the left ear, and he will come home again.”  And then she gave her the golden spinning-wheel, saying:  “Perhaps you may find that you have a use for it.”

The girl had to ride for a great many days, and for a long and wearisome time, before she got there; but at last she did arrive, and then she asked the East Wind if he could tell her the way to the Prince who dwelt east of the sun and west of the moon.  “Well,” said the East Wind, “I have heard tell of the Prince, and of his castle, but I do not know the way to it, for I have never blown so far; but, if you like, I will go with you to my brother the West Wind:  he may know that, for he is much stronger than I am.  You may sit on my back, and then I can carry you there.”  So she seated herself on his back, and they did go so swiftly!  When they got there, the East Wind went in and said that the girl whom he had brought was the one who ought to have had the Prince up at the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon, and that now she was traveling about to find him again, so he had come there with her, and would like to hear if the West Wind knew whereabout the castle was.  “No,” said the West Wind; “so far as that have I never blown; but if you like I will go with you to the South Wind, for he is much stronger than either of us, and he has roamed far and wide, and perhaps he can tell you what you want to know.  You may seat yourself on my back, and then I will carry you to him.”.