`` I suppose you will tell us that you have watched well again this time , '' said the brothers . `` Well , so I have , '' said Cinderlad . So they went there again , and there the grass was , standing as high and as thick as it had been before , but that did not make them any kinder to Cinderlad . When the third St. John 's night came neither of the two elder brothers dared to lie in the outlying barn to watch the grass , for they had been so heartily frightened the night that they had slept there that they could not get over it , but Cinderlad dared to go , and everything happened just the same as on the two former nights . There were three earthquakes , each worse than the other , and the last flung the boy from one wall of the barn to the other , but then everything suddenly became still as death . When he had lain quietly a short time , he heard something chewing outside the barn door ; then he once more stole to the door , which was slightly ajar , and behold , a horse was standing just outside it , which was much larger and fatter than the two others he had caught . `` Ho , ho ! it is thou , then , who art eating up our hay this time , '' thought the boy ; `` but I will put a stop to that . '' So he pulled out his steel for striking fire , and threw it over the horse , and it stood as still as if it had been nailed to the field , and the boy could do just what he liked with it . Then he mounted it and rode away to the place where he had the two others , and then he went home again . Then the two brothers mocked him just as they had done before , and told him that they could see that he must have watched the grass very carefully that night , for he looked just as if he were walking in his sleep ; but Cinderlad did not trouble himself about that , but just bade them go to the field and see . They did go , and this time too the grass was standing , looking as fine and as thick as ever . The King of the country in which Cinderlad 's father dwelt had a daughter whom he would give to no one who could not ride up to the top of the glass hill , for there was a high , high hill of glass , slippery as ice , and it was close to the King 's palace . Upon the very top of this the King 's daughter was to sit with three gold apples in her lap , and the man who could ride up and take the three golden apples should marry her , and have half the kingdom . The King had this proclaimed in every church in the whole kingdom , and in many other kingdoms too . The Princess was very beautiful , and all who saw her fell violently in love with her , even in spite of themselves . So it is needless to say that all the princes and knights were eager to win her , and half the kingdom besides , and that for this cause they came riding thither from the very end of the world , dressed so splendidly that their raiments gleamed in the sunshine , and riding on horses which seemed to dance as they went , and there was not one of these princes who did not think that he was sure to win the Princess . When the day appointed by the King had come , there was such a host of knights and princes under the glass hill that they seemed to swarm , and everyone who could walk or even creep was there too , to see who won the King 's daughter . Cinderlad 's two brothers were there too , but they would not hear of letting him go with them , for he was so dirty and black with sleeping and grubbing among the ashes that they said everyone would laugh at them if they were seen in the company of such an oaf . `` Well , then , I will go all alone by myself , '' said Cinderlad .
When the two brothers got to the glass hill , all the princes and knights were trying to ride up it , and their horses were XXXXX a foam ; but it was all in vain , for no sooner did the horses set foot upon the hill than down they slipped , and there was not one which could get even so much as a couple of yards up .
Upon among as for in of outside so to under