Part 2 of 4!

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On the way back, the White Bear asked if it all had happened as he had said.

Well, she couldn't say it hadn't. She told the Bear she talked to her mother.

"Now, keep in mind," he said, "if you have listened to your mother's advice, you have brought bad luck on us both."

"No," she said. "I haven't listened to my mother's advice."

When she reached the castle and walked by the library that night, she saw the man again. She waited until he sat down in a chair and fell asleep. Then she lit the candle. She held the candle as close to him as she dared. And she saw that it was not a troll. It was a handsome young man. Then his eyes opened. She was surprised, so she jumped. The wax from the candle fell onto his shirt.

"You dripped candle wax on my shirt!" he said, "now you have made us both unlucky. If only you had waited one year. I’m a Prince but the Troll Queen cast a spell on me to be a White Bear by day and a human by night. Now I must go back to her. She lives in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon. The Troll Princess lives there too. I have to marry the Troll Princess."

The girl was sad to see him go. But there was nothing she could do about it.

She asked if she could go with him. But she couldn't.

"Then tell me where to find you," she said.

"You might try," he said, "but there is no way to reach that place. The location is east of the sun and west of the moon. You will never find the way."

So the next morning, when she woke up, both the White Bear and the castle were gone. She was sleeping in the middle of the forest with her small bag.

She walked for many days until she came to a mountain. Under it sat an older woman, and the woman played with a golden apple, which she tossed in the air. The girl asked if she knew how to go to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon.

"How did you come to know about that place?" asked the old woman. Do you know about the Prince?"

"Yes," she said.

"Well, all I know about him is that he lives in the castle east of the sun and west of the moon, but you may borrow my horse, and you can ride to my next-door neighbor. Maybe she'll be able to tell you. And when you get there, give the horse a switch under the left ear, and tell him to go home. And you may take the golden apple with you."

So the girl got on the horse and rode a long time, until she came to another mountain, under which sat another older woman, with a golden wool comb. The girl asked her if she knew the way to the castle that lay east of the sun and west of the moon, and she answered, like the first woman, that she knew nothing about it, except it was east of the sun and west of the moon.

"You'll get there, you'll get there, sooner or later. You may have my horse to go to the neighbor's house. Maybe she'll tell you all about it, and when you get there, switch the horse under the left ear and ask him to go home."

And this woman gave her the golden wool comb. The girl might find some use for it, she said. So the girl got up on the horse and rode very far, and she was tired and weary from the journey. At last, she came to another great mountain, under which sat another older woman, spinning with a golden spinning wheel. The girl asked her, too, if she knew the way to the Prince and where the castle was east of the sun and west of the moon.

"Do you know the Prince?" said the woman.

"Yes, I do."

But this woman, too, didn't know much more than the other two. East of the sun and west of the moon it was; that's all she knew.

"You'll get there sooner or later, so I'll lend you my horse, and then I think it's best to ride to the East Wind and ask him. Maybe he knows that place and can blow you there. And when you reach him, you need only give the horse a switch under the left ear, and he'll trot home by himself."

And so, too, she gave the girl the golden spinning wheel. "Maybe you'll find a use for it," said the woman.

Then the girl rode many days, weary from the journey. But at last, she did reach the East Wind's house, and then she asked the East Wind if he could tell her the way to the Prince who lived east of the sun and west of the moon.