“’It is true, then.  Even that child has seen it.  I will go to her at once, and we will set forth.’

“So the old man entered the castle, and gave orders that the child who had just come in should be found and brought to him.

“The servants immediately flew to do his bidding, but no child could they find.

“‘Lock the gates lest she escape,’ ordered the master.  ’She is here.  Find her, or off goes every one of your foolish heads.’

“This was a terrible threat.  You may be sure the servants ran hither and thither, and examined every nook and corner; but still no little girl could be found.  The master scowled and fumed, but he considered that if he had his servants all beheaded, it would put him to serious inconvenience; so he only sat down and bit his thumbs, and began to try to think up some new way to search for the Castle of True Delight.

“He felt sure the child had told the truth when saying she had beheld it.  It was even in the country where she had her home.  The man began to see that he had made a mistake not to treat the stranger more civilly.  The very dogs that he kept to drive away intruders had been more hospitable than he.

“All at once he had a bright thought.  The roc, the oldest and wisest of all birds, lived at the top of the mountain which rose above his castle.

“‘She will tell me the way,’ he said, ’for she knows the world from its very beginning.’

“So he ordered that they should saddle and bridle his strongest steed, and up the mountain he rode for many a toilsome hour, until he came to where the roc lived among the clouds.

“She listened civilly to the man’s question.  ’So you are weary of your life,’ she said.  ’Many a pilgrim comes to me on the same quest, and I tell them all the same thing.  The obstacles to getting away from the Valley of Vain Regret are many, for there is but one road, and that has difficulties innumerable; but the thing that makes escape nearly impossible is the dragon that watches for travelers, and has so many eyes that two of them are always awake.  There is one hope, however.  If you will examine my wings and make yourself a similar pair, you can fly above the pitfalls and the dragon’s nest, and so reach the palace safely.’

“As she said this, the roc slowly stretched her great wings, and the man examined them eagerly, above and below.

“‘And in what direction do I fly?’ he asked at last.

“‘Toward the rising sun,’ replied the roc; then her wings closed, her head drooped, and she fell asleep, and no further word could the man get from her.

“He rode home, and for many weeks he labored and made others labor, to build an air-ship that should carry him out of the Valley of Vain Regret.  It was finished at last.  It was cleverly fashioned, and had wings as broad as the roc’s; but on the day when the man finally stepped within it and set it in motion, it carried him only a short distance outside the castle gates, and then sank to the boughs of a tall tree, and, try as he might, the air-ship could not be made to take a longer flight.