Can you start in three days ? ' ` This moment , if you like , ' said the horse . The preparations of the emperor 's youngest daughter were much fewer and simpler than those of her sisters . They only consisted of some boy 's clothes , a small quantity of linen and food , and a little money in case of necessity . Then she bade farewell to her father , and rode away . A day 's journey from the palace , she reached the copper bridge , but before they came in sight of it , the horse , who was a magician , had warned her of the means her father would take to prove her courage . Still in spite of his warning she trembled all over when a huge wolf , as thin as if he had fasted for a month , with claws like saws , and mouth as wide as an oven , bounded howling towards her . For a moment her heart failed her , but the next , touching the horse lightly with her spur , she drew her sword from its sheath , ready to separate the wolf 's head from its body at a single blow . The beast saw the sword , and shrank back , which was the best thing it could do , as now the girl 's blood was up , and the light of battle in her eyes . Then without looking round , she rode across the bridge . The emperor , proud of this first victory , took a short cut , and waited for her at the end of another day 's journey , close to a river , over which he threw a bridge of silver . And this time he took the shape of a lion . But the horse guessed this new danger and told the princess how to escape it . But it is one thing to receive advice when we feel safe and comfortable , and quite another to be able to carry it out when some awful peril is threatening us . And if the wolf had made the girl quake with terror , it seemed like a lamb beside this dreadful lion . At the sound of his roar the very trees quivered and his claws were so large that every one of them looked like a cutlass . The breath of the princess came and went , and her feet rattled in the stirrups . Suddenly the remembrance flashed across her of the wolf whom she had put to flight , and waving her sword , she rushed so violently on the lion that he had barely time to spring on one side , so as to avoid the blow . Then , like a flash , she crossed this bridge also . Now during her whole life , the princess had been so carefully brought up , that she had never left the gardens of the palace , so that the sight of the hills and valleys and tinkling streams , and the song of the larks and blackbirds , made her almost beside herself with wonder and delight .
She longed to get down and bathe her face in the clear pools , and pick the brilliant flowers , but the horse said ` No , ' and quickened his pace , neither turning to the right or the XXXXX .
bridge day days escape first heart left month shape stirrups