Nor was that strange , for the hill was as smooth as a glass window-pane , and as steep as the side of a house . But they were all eager to win the King 's daughter and half the kingdom , so they rode and they slipped , and thus it went on . At length all the horses were so tired that they could do no more , and so hot that the foam dropped from them and the riders were forced to give up the attempt . The King was just thinking that he would cause it to be proclaimed that the riding should begin afresh on the following day , when perhaps it might go better , when suddenly a knight came riding up on so fine a horse that no one had ever seen the like of it before , and the knight had armor of copper , and his bridle was of copper too , and all his accoutrements were so bright that they shone again . The other knights all called out to him that he might just as well spare himself the trouble of trying to ride up the glass hill , for it was of no use to try ; but he did not heed them , and rode straight off to it , and went up as if it were nothing at all . Thus he rode for a long way -- it may have been a third part of the way up -- but when he had got so far he turned his horse round and rode down again . But the Princess thought that she had never yet seen so handsome a knight , and while he was riding up she was sitting thinking , `` Oh ! how I hope he may be able to come up to the top ! '' And when she saw that he was turning his horse back she threw one of the golden apples down after him , and it rolled into his shoe . But when he had come down from off the hill he rode away , and that so fast that no one knew what had become of him . So all the princes and knights were bidden to present themselves before the King that night , so that he who had ridden so far up the glass hill might show the golden apple which the King 's daughter had thrown down . But no one had anything to show . One knight presented himself after the other , and none could show the apple . At night , too , Cinderlad 's brothers came home again and had a long story to tell about riding up the glass hill . At first , they said , there was not one who was able to get even so much as one step up , but then came a knight who had armor of copper , and a bridle of copper , and his armor and trappings were so bright that they shone to a great distance , and it was something like a sight to see him riding . He rode one-third of the way up the glass hill , and he could easily have ridden the whole of it if he had liked ; but he had turned back , for he had made up his mind that that was enough for once . `` Oh ! I should have liked to see him too , that I should , '' said Cinderlad , who was as usual sitting by the chimney among the cinders . `` You , indeed ! '' said the brothers , `` you look as if you were fit to be among such great lords , nasty beast that you are to sit there ! ''
Next day the brothers were for setting out again , and this time too Cinderlad begged them XXXXX let him go with them and see who rode ; but no , they said he was not fit to do that , for he was much too ugly and dirty .
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