There's a cake in the larder."

So saying, he strolled away, and the King was left to his own
devices. These consisted in bathing himself from head to foot till
his body was as pure without as he desired his heart to be within;
and in donning his fresh suit of linen. He would not break his fast,
but waited, trembling and eager, till an hour before sundown, and
then at last he set forth to mount the great hill with the sacred
crown of trees upon its crest.

When at last he stood upon the boundary of the Ring, his heart
sprang for joy in his breast, and his breath nearly failed him with
amazement at the beauty of the world which lay outspread for leagues
below him.

"Oh, lovely earth!" he cried aloud, "never till now have I known
what beauty I lived in. How is it that we cannot see the wonder of
our surroundings until we gaze upon them from afar? But if you look
so fair from the hilltops, what must you appear from the very sky?"
And lost in delight he turned his eyes upward, and was recalled to
his senses by the sight of the sinking sun. "Lovely one, how nearly
you have betrayed me!" he said, and smiling waved his hand to the
dear earth, sealed up his lips, and entered the Ring.

And here between two midmost beeches he knelt down and buried his
face in his hands, and prayed the spirits of that place to make him
worthy.

The hours passed, quarter by quarter, and the King stayed motionless
like one in a dream. Presently, however, the dream was faintly