Everything seemed to turn to gold in his hands , till one day , when he and his son were sitting in the orchard watching their herds of cattle grazing in the meadows , he suddenly said : ` Peter , my boy , it is time that you were thinking of marrying . ' ` But , my dear father , I told you I can never marry , because of the promise I gave to Eisenkopf . ' ` Oh , one promises here and promises there , but no one ever thinks of keeping such promises . If Eisenkopf does not like your marrying , he will have to put up with it all the same ! Besides , there stands in the stable a grey horse which is saddled night and day ; and if Eisenkopf should show his face , you have only got to jump on the horse 's back and ride away , and nobody on earth can catch you . When all is safe you will come back again , and we shall live as happily as two fish in the sea . ' And so it all happened . The young man found a pretty , brown-skinned girl who was willing to have him for a husband , and the whole village came to the wedding feast . The music was at its gayest , and the dance at its merriest , when Eisenkopf looked in at the window . ` Oh , ho , my brother ! what is going on here ? It has the air of being a wedding feast . Yet I fancied -- was I mistaken ? -- that you had given me a promise that you never would marry . ' But Peter had not waited for the end of this speech . Scarcely had he seen Eisenkopf than he darted like the wind to the stable and flung himself on the horse 's back . In another moment he was away over the mountain , with Eisenkopf running fast behind him . On they went through thick forests where the sun never shone , over rivers so wide that it took a whole day to sail across them , up hills whose sides were all of glass ; on they went through seven times seven countries till Peter reined in his horse before the house of an old woman . ` Good day , mother , ' said he , jumping down and opening the door . ` Good day , my son , ' answered she , ` and what are you doing here , at the world 's end ? ' '
I am flying XXXXX my life , mother , flying to the world which is beyond all worlds ; for Eisenkopf is at my heels . '
In On as behind for if of so through with