There in a blue cave of the ice he found the Three Gray Sisters , the oldest of living things . Their hair was as white as the snow , and their flesh of an icy blue , and they mumbled and nodded in a kind of dream , and their frozen breath hung round them like a cloud . Now the opening of the cave in the ice was narrow , and it was not easy to pass in without touching one of the Gray Sisters . But , floating on the Shoes of Swiftness , the boy just managed to steal in , and waited till one of the sisters said to another , who had their one eye : `` Sister , what do you see ? do you see old times coming back ? '' `` No , sister . '' `` Then give me the eye , for perhaps I can see farther than you . '' Then the first sister passed the eye to the second , but as the second groped for it the boy caught it cleverly out of her hand . `` Where is the eye , sister ? '' said the second gray woman . `` You have taken it yourself , sister , '' said the first gray woman . `` Have you lost the eye , sister ? have you lost the eye ? '' said the third gray woman ; `` shall we never find it again , and see old times coming back ? '' Then the boy slipped from behind them out of the cold cave into the air , and he laughed aloud . When the gray women heard that laugh they began to weep , for now they knew that a stranger had robbed them , and that they could not help themselves , and their tears froze as they fell from the hollows where no eyes were , and rattled on the icy ground of the cave . Then they began to implore the boy to give them their eye back again , and he could not help being sorry for them , they were so pitiful . But he said he would never give them the eye till they told him the way to the Fairies of the Garden . Then they wrung their hands miserably , for they guessed why he had come , and how he was going to try to win the Terrible Head . Now the Dreadful Women were akin to the Three Gray Sisters , and it was hard for them to tell the boy the way .
But at last they told him to keep always south , and with the land XXXXX his left and the sea on his right , till he reached the Island of the Fairies of the Garden .
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