Dig your spurs in my body up to the rowel , draw your sword , and keep yourself ready , for we shall have to leap over both bridge and dragon . When you see that we are right above the dragon cut off his biggest head , wipe the blood off the sword , and put it back clean in the sheath before we touch earth again . ' So Petru dug in his spurs , drew his sword , cut of the head , wiped the blood , and put the sword back in the sheath before the horse 's hoofs touched the ground again . And in this fashion they passed the bridge . ` But we have got to go further still , ' said Petru , after he had taken a farewell glance at his native land . ` Yes , forwards , ' answered the horse ; ` but you must tell me , my lord , at what speed you wish to go . Like the wind ? Like thought ? Like desire ? or like a curse ? ' Petru looked about him , up at the heavens and down again to the earth . A desert lay spread out before him , whose aspect made his hair stand on end . ` We will ride at different speeds , ' said he , ` not so fast as to grow tired nor so slow as to waste time . ' And so they rode , one day like the wind , the next like thought , the third and fourth like desire and like a curse , till they reached the borders of the desert . ` Now walk , so that I may look about , and see what I have never seen before , ' said Petru , rubbing his eyes like one who wakes from sleep , or like him who beholds something so strange that it seems as if ... Before Petru lay a wood made of copper , with copper trees and copper leaves , with bushes and flowers of copper also . Petru stood and stared as a man does when he sees something that he has never seen , and of which he has never heard . Then he rode right into the wood . On each side of the way the rows of flowers began to praise Petru , and to try and persuade him to pick some of them and make himself a wreath . ` Take me , for I am lovely , and can give strength to whoever plucks me , ' said one . ` No , take me , for whoever wears me in his hat will be loved by the most beautiful woman in the world , ' pleaded the second ; and then one after another bestirred itself , each more charming than the last , all promising , in soft sweet voices , wonderful things to Petru , if only he would pick them .
Petru was not deaf to their persuasion , and was just stooping to pick one when the horse sprang XXXXX one side .
On after for in of so than that till to