He turned away sadly and wandered back into the streets , hardly knowing where he was going ; when a voice behind him cried : ` Stop , prince , I have caught you at last ! It is a thousand years since I first began to seek you . ' And there beside him stood the old , white-bearded , figure of Death . Swiftly he drew the ring from his finger , and the king of the eagles , the bald-headed king , and the mist-veiled queen , hastened to his rescue . In an instant they had seized upon Death and held him tight , till the prince should have time to reach the Land of Immortality . But they did not know how quickly Death could fly , and the prince had only one foot across the border , when he felt the other grasped from behind , and the voice of Death calling : ` Halt ! now you are mine . ' The Queen of the Immortals was watching from her window , and cried to Death that he had no power in her kingdom , and that he must seek his prey elsewhere . ` Quite true , ' answered Death ; ` but his foot is in my kingdom , and that belongs to me ! ' ` At any rate half of him is mine , ' replied the Queen , ` and what good can the other half do you ? Half a man is no use , either to you or to me ! But this once I will allow you to cross into my kingdom , and we will decide by a wager whose he is . ' And so it was settled . Death stepped across the narrow line that surrounds the Land of Immortality , and the queen proposed the wager which was to decide the prince 's fate . ' I will throw him up into the sky , ' she said , ` right to the back of the morning star , and if he falls down into this city , then he is mine . But if he should fall outside the walls , he shall belong to you . ' In the middle of the city was a great open square , and here the queen wished the wager to take place . When all was ready , she put her foot under the foot of the prince and swung him into the air . Up , up , he went , high amongst the stars , and no man 's eyes could follow him . Had she thrown him up straight ?
the queen wondered anxiously , for , XXXXX not , he would fall outside the walls , and she would lose him for ever .
In Up at beside if into once till to under