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Tale Summary

Once upon a time there was a golden castle with golden apples which grew in front and would let whoever picked them inside. The castle was at the top of a glass mountain, and inside was a beautiful, rich, enchanted woman. Knights came from all over to try their luck at scaling the glass mountain to reach the princess, but it was all in vain as the surface was so slippery, and many were injured or died. Three days before it had been seven years that the princess was stuck in the castle, a knight in golden armor showed up and had made it almost to the top, when an eagle spooked the horse, and they fell dead at the bottom. When there was only one more day until the end of seven years, a youth showed up. He killed a lynx and fasted its claws to his own hands and feet, and made his way up the mountain. As time went on he became more and more exhausted, with his feet bleeding so badly that he could only climb with his hands. In the pitch black night, the boy did not struggle to go any higher and calmly awaited death. He fell into a deep sleep, but because his claws were so deep in the glass, he did not fall. The eagle, who protected the golden apples and made nightly rounds, found the young man and tried to kill him. The youth saw an opportunity, and when the bird dug into his flesh he grabbed ahold of its feet and was carried upwards, and circled around the castle tower. He saw the princess sitting sadly on her balcony, and then saw the golden apples nearby, and so cut off both of the eagles' feet. He landed in the branches of the magical tree and layed apple peels on his wounds to heal them. He then gathered up several more apples and went to the dragon guarding the gates, which vanished after the youth threw an apple at it. He entered into a courtyard with many flowers and trees, and as soon as the princess saw him she rushed to him and greeted him as her new husband. He received many treasures and became a mighty ruler, but did not return to earth because he could not safely descend without the eagle, which had died. One day the youth and his wife saw a great number of people gathered at the bottom of the castle, and so a swallow (which was a messenger) was sent to learn more about the crowd. He came back to say that the blood of the eagle had restored all of the dead men back to life.

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