Yet , since it is so , your mother will bake you a cake for you to carry with you on your journey . Who can tell how long it may be ? ' So the mother arose and baked not one cake but two , a big one and a little one . ` Choose , my son , ' said she . ` Will you have the little cake with your mother 's blessing , or the big one without it , in that you have set aside your father and taken on yourself to make a vow ? ' ' I will have the large cake , ' answered the youth ; ` for what good would my mother 's blessing do for me if I was dying of hunger ? ' And taking the big cake he went his way . Straight on he strode , letting neither hill nor river hinder him . Swiftly he walked -- swiftly as the wind that blew down the mountain . The eagles and the gulls looked on from their nests as he passed , leaving the deer behind him ; but at length he stopped , for hunger had seized on him , and he could walk no more . Trembling with fatigue he sat himself on a rock and broke a piece off his cake . ` Spare me a morsel , Ardan son of Gorla , ' asked a raven , fluttering down towards him . ` Seek food elsewhere , O bearer of ill-news , ' answered Ardan son of Gorla ; ` it is but little I have for myself . ' And he stretched himself out for a few moments , then rose to his feet again . On and on went he till the little birds flew to their nests , and the brightness died out of the sky , and a darkness fell over the earth . On and on , and on , till at last he saw a beam of light streaming from a house and hastened towards it . The door was opened and he entered , but paused when he beheld an old man lying on a bench by the fire , while seated opposite him was a maiden combing out the locks of her golden hair with a comb of silver . ` Welcome , fair youth , ' said the old man , turning his head . ` Sit down and warm yourself , and tell me how fares the outer world . It is long since I have seen it . '
` All my news is that I am seeking service , ' answered Ardan son of XXXXX ; ' I have come from far since sunrise , and glad was I to see the rays of your lamp stream into the darkness . ' '
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