Stay here , and share my throne ; a thousand years is long enough to live ! ' ` Certainly , ' answered he ; ` still , at the end of the thousand years I should have to die ! No , I must find the land where there is no death . ' The queen did all she could to persuade him to stay , but as her words proved useless , at length she gave it up . Then she said to him : ` As you will not stay , take this little golden rod as a remembrance of me . It has the power to become anything you wish it to be , when you are in need . ' So the prince thanked her , and putting the rod in his pocket , went his way . Scarcely had he left the town behind him when he came to a broad river which no man might pass , for he was standing at the end of the world , and this was the river which flowed round it . Not knowing what to do next , he walked a little distance up the bank , and there , over his head , a beautiful city was floating in the air . He longed to get to it , but how ? neither road nor bridge was anywhere to be seen , yet the city drew him upwards , and he felt that here at last was the country which he sought . Suddenly he remembered the golden rod which the mist-veiled queen had given him . With a beating heart he flung it to the ground , wishing with all his might that it should turn into a bridge , and fearing that , after all , this might prove beyond its power . But no , instead of the rod , there stood a golden ladder , leading straight up to the city of the air . He was about to enter the golden gates , when there sprang at him a wondrous beast , whose like he had never seen . ` Out sword from the sheath , ' cried the prince , springing back with a cry . And the sword leapt from the scabbard and cut off some of the monster 's heads , but others grew again directly , so that the prince , pale with terror , stood where he was , calling for help , and put his sword back in the sheath again . The queen of the city heard the noise and looked from her window to see what was happening . Summoning one of her servants , she bade him go and rescue the stranger , and bring him to her . The prince thankfully obeyed her orders , and entered her presence .
The moment she looked XXXXX him , the queen also felt that he was no ordinary man , and she welcomed him graciously , and asked him what had brought him to the city .
So With as at for from in over that up