with a will, but when the stone was half way up they let it drop suddenly, and it fell to the bottom broken into a hundred pieces.
‘So that’s what would have happened to my bones had I trusted myself to them,’ said the youth sadly; and he began to cry bitterly, not because of the treasures, but because of the lovely girl with her swanlike neck and golden hair.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/The_Yellow_Fairy_Book_%281894%29_-_p.136.png/480px-The_Yellow_Fairy_Book_%281894%29_-_p.136.png)
‘Then the youth swung his mighty sword in the air, and with one blow cut off the serpent’s head’
For a long time he wandered sadly all through the beautiful underworld, and one day he met a magician who asked him the cause of his tears. The youth told him all that had befallen him, and the magician said:
‘Do not grieve, young man! If you will guard the children who are hidden in the golden apple-tree, I will bring you at once