"'Think not,' she said, 'that your difficulties will be over when you have reached the summit of the hill of ice.

But all I can do for you more is to give you this nut, which you must open in your moment of sorest perplexity.' "And as the Princess held out her hand for the nut the old woman had disappeared.
"But refreshed and encouraged the Princess left the cottage, carrying with her her three gifts, and prepared to face all the perils of her journey with an undaunted heart.
"It would be impossible to describe all she went through during the seven days which passed before she reached the sea of glass.

She saw some strange and wonderful sights, for in those days the world was very different from what it is now.

She was often tired and hungry, thankful for a cup of milk or crust of bread from those she happened to meet on the way.

But her courage never failed her, and at last, on the morning of the eighth day, she saw shining before her in the sunlight the great silent sea of glass of which she had been told.
"It would have been hopeless to attempt to cross it without fairy aid, for it was polished more brightly than any mirror, and so hard that no young Princess's bones could have borne a fall on its cruel surface.